Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $71.33 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 0.7%, owning a total of 281,374 shares, valued at approximately $71.3 million as of its latest filing.
• Ecolab missed analysts' earnings expectations for the last quarter, reporting $1.89 EPS compared to the expected $1.90, despite matching revenue projections of $4.03 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with an annualized payout of $2.60, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.9%.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 281,374 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,869 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.10% of Ecolab worth $71,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company'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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents 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 at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of ECL stock traded down $1.82 on Friday, hitting $277.20. 925,307 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,081,829. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $271.70 and a 200 day moving average of $260.80. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ECL. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $291.21.

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.