Index Fund Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Index Fund Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clarendon Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $381,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 75.2% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 22,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,179,000 after acquiring an additional 9,842 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 21.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 40,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,041,000 after acquiring an additional 7,232 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the second quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 52,296 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,091,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.9% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $271.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $274.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm 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 forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 34.71%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.