Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,815 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position 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 buying an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its position in Ecolab by 199.6% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,179,000 after buying an additional 289,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.00.
View Our Latest Stock Report on ECL
Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab
In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business'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 value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade 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 Trading Down 1.5%
Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $269.83 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $272.51 and a 200-day moving average of $261.81. 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 stock has a market cap of $76.53 billion, a PE ratio of 36.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.09.
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 analyst estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 34.71%.
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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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