Midwest Trust Co Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Midwest Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 121,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,770,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 32.4% in the first quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Mirabaud & Cie SA increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $255.86 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $267.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70. The firm has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current 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.