Harbour Investments Inc. Reduces Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Harbour Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 37.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $805,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.5% during the second quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 7,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 1,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $276.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.31. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04.

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). The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.