Baird Financial Group Inc. Raises Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 295,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,321 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $79,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $847,544,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Ecolab by 119.7% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,188,736,000 after acquiring an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 43.2% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 834,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $211,450,000 after acquiring an additional 251,730 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,644 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. This represents a 19.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $264.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $268.35 and its 200 day moving average is $269.04. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $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, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho set a $315.00 price objective on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

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.