Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Buys 42,790 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 8.7% during Q2, acquiring 42,790 shares to own a total of 534,288 shares valued at approximately $143,959,000.
• Several hedge funds have made significant changes to their positions in Ecolab, notably with Nuveen LLC purchasing over $337 million in shares and Auto Owners Insurance Co increasing its position by 27,677.8%.
• Ecolab announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.0%, payable on October 15th to shareholders of record as of September 16th.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 8.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 534,288 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,790 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned about 0.19% of Ecolab worth $143,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted 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 worth $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $110,179,000 after purchasing an additional 289,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 11,199 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $292.00.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:ECL opened at $269.83 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $76.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $272.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 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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