XTX Topco Ltd Has $510,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

XTX Topco Ltd lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 84.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,382 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 119.7% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 43.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 49.7% during the 2nd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 741,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $199,723,000 after buying an additional 246,237 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares in the company, valued at $18,989,868.04. This trade represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $264.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 38.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be given a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost 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 37.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Erste Group Bank initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.