Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 396,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,404 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $106,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $260,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.8% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 198,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Advisors raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 25,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $847,544,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. This represents a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $275.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $77.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. 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’s 50-day moving average is $268.26 and its 200-day moving average is $268.76.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.