USS Investment Management Ltd Reduces Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• USS Investment Management Ltd reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 15.8%, selling 8,600 shares to hold 45,737 shares valued at approximately $11.6 million.
• Ecolab received mixed ratings from analysts, with a consensus price target set at $291.64 and several analysts upgrading the stock to "outperform."
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a yield of 1.0%, set to be paid on October 15th.

USS Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 15.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 45,737 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,600 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the fourth 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 holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the fourth 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 holdings in shares of Ecolab by 61.1% during the fourth 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 holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth 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 grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 49,127 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,442,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.64.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $273.56 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.08. The company has a market cap of $77.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during 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 analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 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 transaction, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, 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. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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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