Aspiriant LLC Has $483,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Aspiriant LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Aspiriant LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp boosted its stake in Ecolab by 202.6% during the second quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 70.6% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $38,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 at this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, October 6th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $276.37 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $274.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $263.73. The company has a market cap of $78.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. 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.