OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Has $40.60 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 150,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,143 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises about 1.1% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd owned approximately 0.05% of Ecolab worth $40,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 20.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $141,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $277.35 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $78.66 billion, a PE ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 purchase, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.