Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. decreased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 250,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 48,903 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.09% of Ecolab worth $46,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.5% during the second quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 11,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,231,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. Finally, Aspen Grove Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Aspen Grove Capital LLC now owns 3,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ecolab from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Ecolab from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, September 15th. Finally, TheStreet raised Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.64.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $184.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.57 billion, a PE ratio of 42.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $170.87 and its 200-day moving average is $176.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.13 and a 1 year high of $191.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.02. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 18.81%. The company had revenue of $3.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.99 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.