World Investment Advisors Has $5.13 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

World Investment Advisors boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 199.6% during the first 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 4.1%

Ecolab stock opened at $257.38 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $273.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $266.15. The company has a market capitalization of $73.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.62.

Ecolab 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.