Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Bought by HighMark Wealth Management LLC

HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 62 shares during the quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings 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 valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 199.6% during the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,179,000 after buying an additional 289,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $273.81 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $272.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.96. 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 capitalization of $77.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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.