Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,236 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 79.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 289,556 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 261,489 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0%

ECL opened at $276.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $78.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.17.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

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.