Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC Cuts Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 60.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 815 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,244 shares during the quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 64,964 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,504,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 49,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,289,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 3,211.9% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 81,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,943,000 after purchasing an additional 78,980 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 61,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,674,000 after buying an additional 4,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 595,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $160,483,000 after buying an additional 10,697 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $255.92 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $268.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.95. 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 stock has a market cap of $72.48 billion, a PE ratio of 36.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month 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 the consensus estimate of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for 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%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.