Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 6,895 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 13.3%, now holding 45,052 shares valued at approximately $11.42 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Ecolab, with GAMMA Investing LLC raising its stake by a staggering 27,182.2%, owning now 1.81 million shares valued at around $459.68 million.
• Ecolab recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, with a resulting annual yield of 1.0%, and announced its upcoming earnings guidance for FY 2025.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,895 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 61.1% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 5,156 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 49,127 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,442,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.00.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $6.20 on Thursday, hitting $275.29. The company had a trading volume of 930,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,302,293. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $272.58 and a 200-day moving average of $261.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. 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 is 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.