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

VCI Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after acquiring an additional 261,489 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,805,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $964,885,000 after acquiring an additional 145,902 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $689,154,000 after acquiring an additional 173,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE ECL opened at $280.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.50 billion, a PE ratio of 37.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $274.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $264.13. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 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 was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.