Quotient Wealth Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 97 shares during the quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in Ecolab by 119.7% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $548,671,000 after buying an additional 1,109,585 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 199.6% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,179,000 after purchasing an additional 289,556 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $276.37 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. The stock 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $263.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

About Ecolab

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.