Maple Capital Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Maple Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings 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 valued at $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 834,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $211,450,000 after buying an additional 251,730 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $262.23 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $269.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $267.62. The company 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 (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.