Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,848,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,495,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 2,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,639 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Barings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the second quarter. Barings LLC now owns 19,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,319,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 20.3% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 81,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,826,000 after purchasing an additional 13,694 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Barclays increased their target price on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.14.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $268.68 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $76.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.60, a PEG 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. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $268.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.