Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires 5,372 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its ownership in Ecolab Inc. by 5% during the 2nd quarter, acquiring an additional 5,372 shares, bringing its total holdings to 111,897 shares valued at $30.15 million.
• Several institutional investors, including the Saudi Central Bank and J.Safra Asset Management Corp, have recently purchased new positions in Ecolab, with hedge funds and other institutions owning 74.91% of the stock.
• Ecolab announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a current yield of 0.9%, while having a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80 and a market cap of $78.66 billion.

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,897 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,372 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $30,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 202.6% during the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $41,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $290.92.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $277.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The firm's fifty day moving average is $274.37 and its 200 day moving average is $264.98. The firm has a market cap of $78.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released 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). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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