Ethic Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 3.5% during the second quarter, holding 38,165 shares valued at approximately $10.2 million.
• Several large investors have recently changed their positions in Ecolab, with Vontobel Holding Ltd. increasing its stake by 119.7% during the same period.
• Ecolab also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.9%.

Ethic Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,165 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,377 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $10,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,109,585 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its position in Ecolab by 199.6% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $110,179,000 after purchasing an additional 289,556 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, October 6th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $278.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.11, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $274.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.23. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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