Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 200 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.4% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,497,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 13.3% in the second quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 2,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 26.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,448,000 after purchasing an additional 16,224 shares during the last quarter. Index Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $456,000. Finally, Clarendon Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $381,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, October 6th. Robert W. Baird upped 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $270.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $263.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $76.62 billion, a PE ratio of 36.07, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month 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). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued 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%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.