Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 467,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,215 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $126,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $267.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $268.05. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. 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 quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 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 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.