Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 5,500 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 129,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,500 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $34,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during 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 grew its stake 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $267.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $267.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market capitalization of $75.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly 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. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Erste Group Bank started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.