Bank of Nova Scotia Has $25.81 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 87.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,586 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $25,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter worth $847,544,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $548,671,000 after buying an additional 1,109,585 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 834,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $211,450,000 after acquiring an additional 251,730 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Ecolab by 49.7% during the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 741,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $199,723,000 after acquiring an additional 246,237 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, 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 value of $5,676,256.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,933,816. This represents a 3.37% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $253.09 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $267.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $269.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during 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%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 41.95%.

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.