Baer Investment Advisory LLC Takes $1.21 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Baer Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,000. Ecolab makes up about 1.7% of Baer Investment Advisory LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $805,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the second quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 7,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday. Finally, Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $277.35 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $274.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $265.44. 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 company has a market capitalization of $78.66 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were 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. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.