Fox Run Management L.L.C. Sells 3,079 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Fox Run Management L.L.C. significantly reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 72.9% during Q1, leaving them with 1,142 shares valued at $290,000.
• Ecolab's latest earnings report showed a slight miss with $1.89 earnings per share, compared to the expected $1.90.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a yield of 0.9%, to be paid on October 15th.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 72.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,142 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,079 shares during the quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased 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. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Mizuho lifted 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. Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $291.21.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded down $5.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $278.52. 1,098,256 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,202,153. 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 $78.99 billion, a PE ratio of 37.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.06. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $270.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.20.

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 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 the consensus estimate 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. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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.