Ecolab Inc. $ECL Stake Reduced by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 65,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,511 shares during the quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $10,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. grew its stake in Ecolab by 32.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,428 shares in the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA grew its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its stake in Ecolab by 1,189.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 133,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3%

ECL opened at $271.80 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $274.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.11. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market cap of $77.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. 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 year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. 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.