WASHINGTON TRUST Co Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 54.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of Ecolab 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 directly owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,989,868.04. The trade was a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $261.98 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $269.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $74.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The company had revenue of $4.17 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

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.