Swiss National Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 772,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 54,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.27% of Ecolab worth $208,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.0% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,662,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,644,987,000 after purchasing an additional 250,980 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 22,986 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $964,885,000 after buying an additional 145,902 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings 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 valued at $906,900,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.0%

NYSE:ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $267.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $267.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup dropped 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.14.

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.