Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 316.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its stake in 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 during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. The trade was 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. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $267.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $268.05. The company has a market capitalization of $75.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.36, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04. 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 posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.