PDS Planning Inc Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

PDS Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 36,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,755,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $271.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $274.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.04. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company 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, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.29.

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.