Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Bought by Maple Capital Management Inc.

Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $807,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 7,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in Ecolab by 2.8% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup cut their price target on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment 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, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.4%

Ecolab stock opened at $262.23 on Wednesday. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $269.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.