Scotia Capital Inc. Has $10.49 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Scotia Capital Inc. trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 518 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $10,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,662,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,644,987,000 after buying an additional 250,980 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,479,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,469,019,000 after acquiring an additional 22,986 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of 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 worth $906,900,000 after purchasing an additional 27,619 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock 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 firm has a market cap of $77.94 billion, a PE ratio of 39.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $268.26 and a 200-day moving average of $268.64. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. 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 expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. The trade was a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. The trade was a 23.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.