Norinchukin Bank The Has $5.43 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Norinchukin Bank The lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,053 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake 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 worth $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho boosted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $283.1840 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $80.32 billion, a PE ratio of 37.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $269.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $259.60. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.