Ieq Capital LLC Has $4.58 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC significantly increased its stake in Ecolab, acquiring an additional 10,161 shares in Q1, bringing its total to 18,069 shares valued at approximately $4.58 million.
• Ecolab recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.89, slightly missing analysts' estimates, and guided for Q3 EPS between $2.020 and $2.120.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with an upcoming ex-dividend date of September 16th, reflecting a 0.9% dividend yield.

Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 128.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,069 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,161 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 176.7% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 70.6% during the first 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 during the last quarter. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $1.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $275.10. 1,526,616 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,062,440. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $272.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.11. 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 fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

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.