Employees Retirement System of Texas Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,107,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 43.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 834,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $211,450,000 after purchasing an additional 251,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Ecolab by 49.7% during the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 741,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $199,723,000 after buying an additional 246,237 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6%

Ecolab stock opened at $275.03 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $77.90 billion, a PE ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $267.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $268.45. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.57 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total value of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

About Ecolab

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.