Ecolab Inc. $ECL Stake Boosted by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,466,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $395,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 38.7% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,997,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 18,839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,776,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $268.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The company has a market capitalization of $76.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $267.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $268.26.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab 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.