Rathbones Group PLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 278,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,875 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $75,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Ecolab by 202.6% during the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $255.86 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $270.19 and its 200 day moving average is $267.11. The stock has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.14.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.