Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Increases Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,068 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 468 shares during the period. Triasima Portfolio Management inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings 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 during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3%

ECL opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $273.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $262.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. 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 expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. 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.