Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 30.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,899 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares in the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133,192 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Three 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $278.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $78.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.23. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. 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.