Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Acquired by Simon Quick Advisors LLC

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,295 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 79.6% in the 1st 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 raised its position in Ecolab by 199.6% in the 1st 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $256.51 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $272.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.41. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 37.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $294.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.