Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Has $6.21 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,763 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for approximately 3.0% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 39.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP now owns 57,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,517,000 after purchasing an additional 4,445 shares during the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $304,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 240.5% during the second quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,515,000 after buying an additional 3,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 10.0% in the second quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on 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 upped their price objective on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $265.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $261.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given 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 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

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.