Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,046,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 42,188 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.37% of Ecolab worth $281,917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 227,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,723,000 after acquiring an additional 22,209 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at $88,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its stake in Ecolab by 141.0% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,150,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $275.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.64. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The stock has a market cap of $77.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.53, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total value of $5,676,256.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. The trade was a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. 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.