Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Has $135.87 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 504,261 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,639 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $135,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 199.6% during the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,179,000 after buying an additional 289,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $255.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a PE ratio of 36.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $270.19 and a 200-day moving average of $267.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.