Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Lowers Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,319 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during the 2nd 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 raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.77.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $256.51 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.85, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $266.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.36%.

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.