Franklin Resources Inc. Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,782,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 13,671 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $749,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 202.6% during the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of Ecolab 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,644 shares in the company, valued at $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $261.73 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.61, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.86. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current 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.