Rathbones Group PLC Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 278,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,875 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned approximately 0.10% of Ecolab worth $75,114,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ECL shares. Evercore ISI raised 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 note on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $255.86 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $270.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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 during 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%.Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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.