Bristlecone Advisors LLC Sells 373 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Bristlecone Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 373 shares during the quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 289,556 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $293.62.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $268.42 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.99. The company has a market capitalization of $76.13 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.57 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value 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. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.