Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Founders Grove Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $270.16 on Tuesday. 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 cap of $76.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $274.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $263.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 the consensus estimate 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. On average, sell-side 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.29.

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.