DAVENPORT & Co LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $273.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $262.56. The stock has a market cap of $79.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.22, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $4.03 billion for 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given 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 yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s 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.