National Pension Service Sells 264,206 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

National Pension Service lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 31.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 588,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 264,206 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $158,451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,036,485,000 after buying an additional 93,409 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $964,885,000 after acquiring an additional 145,902 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Ecolab by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 173,298 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $261.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $269.33 and a 200 day moving average of $267.57.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.57 EPS. 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.14.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.