Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,899 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 119.7% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $548,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 79.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 199.6% in the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,179,000 after acquiring an additional 289,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.7%

ECL opened at $278.09 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $78.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $274.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $264.23. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4.03 billion during 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. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Three equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Company 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.