Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Acquired by DAVENPORT & Co LLC

DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Simplicity Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 103.7% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 2,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 38.7% in the second quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 22,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,993,000 after purchasing an additional 6,209 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.4% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:ECL opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $79.07 billion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $273.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $262.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. 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 research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

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.