2,332 Shares in Ecolab Inc. $ECL Acquired by Corient IA LLC

Key Points

• Corient IA LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. during the first quarter, purchasing 2,332 shares valued at approximately $591,000.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Ecolab, with Dunhill Financial LLC raising its position by 176.7%, now owning 119 shares valued at $30,000.
• Ecolab recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which will be paid on October 15th to investors of record as of September 16th.

Corient IA LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,332 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after buying an additional 93,409 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $689,154,000 after buying an additional 173,298 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $291.21.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $2.2860 during trading on Thursday, hitting $283.1840. 1,039,796 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,308,229. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $80.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $269.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $259.37. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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.