Allworth Financial LP Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 47.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,465 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.6% during the second quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 11,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,214,000 after buying an additional 1,787 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 10.1% during the second quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,162 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors increased its position in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its stake in Ecolab by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $234,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $261.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. 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 of $269.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $267.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70.

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 business had revenue of $4.17 billion during 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 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. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.