Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $651,000.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $253,520,000 after buying an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its position in Ecolab by 199.6% during the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 434,598 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $110,179,000 after buying an additional 289,556 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Transactions at Ecolab
In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $290.92.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ECL
Ecolab Price Performance
Shares of ECL opened at $276.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $274.54 and a 200-day moving average of $264.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. 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 research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
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