Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 57.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,784 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,108 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2%

ECL stock opened at $256.51 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company 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. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $272.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $266.21.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 prior year, the company posted $2.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $294.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ecolab

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.