Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Sells 20,250 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 121,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,250 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $32,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $805,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management lifted its position in Ecolab by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 7,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 916 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE:ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $267.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $267.95. The firm 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total value of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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.