American Century Companies Inc. Sells 9,742 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,385,750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,742 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.49% of Ecolab worth $373,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% in 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 period. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three research 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’s stock. 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 Activity at Ecolab

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $18,989,868.04. This 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. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $267.01 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market cap of $75.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.