Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 23.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,476 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,074 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up approximately 0.6% of Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Vienna Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne S.A. Vienna Insurance Group’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,551,000 after acquiring an additional 3,428 shares during the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,606,000 after acquiring an additional 133,192 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.92.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:ECL opened at $277.35 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $274.37 and a 200 day moving average of $265.44. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business’s 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 purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.