Arvest Bank Trust Division Trims Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Arvest Bank Trust Division decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,797 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 288 shares during the quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management raised its holdings 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 worth $2,030,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Ecolab by 2.8% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 2.0% in the first 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 period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the firm’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 trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $261.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. 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 twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $269.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $267.53.

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, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.