Humankind Investments LLC Has $785,000 Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Humankind Investments LLC lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 44.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,350 shares during the period. Humankind Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $785,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $847,544,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 119.7% in the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $548,671,000 after buying an additional 1,109,585 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 115.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 727,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $193,753,000 after buying an additional 389,981 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 43.2% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 834,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $211,450,000 after buying an additional 251,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,662,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,644,987,000 after acquiring an additional 250,980 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 23,035 shares in the company, valued at $5,933,816. This represents a 3.37% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ECL opened at $263.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The company has a market cap of $74.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The company had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.57 EPS. The company’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 and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ECL. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

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.