Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Purchased by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 61,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% in the 2nd 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 raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $258.38 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $267.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $73.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

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.