ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 31,106 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 712,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,106 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.25% of Ecolab worth $191,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. PFG Advisors lifted its position in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Midwest Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $32,770,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 42.5% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 476,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,242,000 after purchasing an additional 141,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 15,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,185,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $255.86 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $270.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $267.32. The stock has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a PE ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $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, 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.