Swedbank AB Sells 53,293 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Swedbank AB trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,310,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 53,293 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $332,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% during 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 stake in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during 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. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $79,980,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of ECL opened at $275.29 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $272.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $261.36. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The stock has a market cap of $78.08 billion, a PE ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price 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. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.