Royal Bank of Canada Has $906.90 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. by 0.8% in Q1, acquiring an additional 27,619 shares, resulting in ownership of 3,577,229 shares valued at approximately $906.9 million.
• Several other institutional investors also raised their stakes in Ecolab, with Nemes Rush Group increasing holdings by 6.6% and University of Texas AM Investment Management Co. by 32.4% during the same period.
• Analysts have mixed views on Ecolab's stock, with price targets ranging from $260 to $305, and an average rating of "Moderate Buy" is currently assigned to it.

Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,619 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 1.26% of Ecolab worth $906,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,980,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $291.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 approximately $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $275.10. 1,526,409 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,302,019. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company's 50 day moving average is $272.21 and its 200 day moving average is $261.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Ecolab 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.