Fiera Capital Corp Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Fiera Capital Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,266 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Ecolab by 202.6% during the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.4%

ECL stock opened at $258.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.18 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. 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 50 day moving average of $268.76 and a 200 day moving average of $267.82.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 business had revenue of $4.17 billion during 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.