Cantillon Capital Management LLC Sells 31,926 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Cantillon Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,095,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 31,926 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 1.7% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $295,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 125.5% during the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 201,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,233,000 after purchasing an additional 112,030 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $203,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 30,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 10.5% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 82,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,138,000 after purchasing an additional 7,785 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised 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. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock 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. Finally, Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $278.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $274.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $264.23. The company has a market cap of $78.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the business’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 transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.