Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership Buys New Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership has acquired 129,718 shares of Ecolab Inc., valued at approximately $32.9 million, making it the largest holding in its investment portfolio.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Ecolab during the first quarter, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its stake by 27,182.2% and Nuveen LLC investing $337.6 million in new shares.
• Ecolab recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.0%, reflecting a payout ratio of 34.71%.

Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 129,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $32,886,000. Ecolab accounts for about 4.8% of Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 79.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $79,980,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $269.32 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.07. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $272.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $261.28.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $292.00.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.