Osaic Holdings Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 35.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 11,369 shares during the quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter worth $284,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the first 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. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $29,956,000. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 437,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $117,794,000 after purchasing an additional 8,608 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 108,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,133,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 750 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $257.60 per share, for a total transaction of $193,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,035 shares in the company, valued at $5,933,816. This trade represents a 3.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $294.57.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $263.46 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $265.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $268.84. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $74.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.95%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.