SVB Wealth LLC Buys New Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $743,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% in the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 81.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Mizuho set a $315.00 price objective on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. 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, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,933,816. The trade was a 3.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. The trade was a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $253.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.36, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $267.39 and its 200-day moving average is $269.06.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 41.95%.

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.