Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Bought by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,631 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 754 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $267.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.95. The company has a market cap of $75.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.36, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $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. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.