Montag A & Associates Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 256 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $323,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,805,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $964,885,000 after acquiring an additional 145,902 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after purchasing an additional 27,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $689,154,000 after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of ECL stock opened at $261.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.94 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $269.33 and its 200 day moving average is $267.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.57 EPS. The company’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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed 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 given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ecolab

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.