Sanders Morris Harris LLC Acquires New Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired 5,752 Ecolab shares during the third quarter, valued at approximately $1.58 million. Institutional investors collectively own 74.91% of Ecolab’s outstanding stock.
• Ecolab reported quarterly EPS of $2.09, slightly exceeding estimates, while revenue rose 9.7% year over year to $4.42 billion. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $324.50.
• Ecolab declared a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, equivalent to an annualized $2.92 payout and a 1.0% yield. CEO Christophe Beck separately sold 17,862 shares for approximately $5.0 million.

Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,579,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Costello Asset Management INC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 64.2% in the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total transaction of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at $20,431,170.48. The trade was a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of ECL traded up $1.96 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $287.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,098,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,438,176. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $80.63 billion, a PE ratio of 38.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $243.15 and a one year high of $309.27. The company's fifty day moving average price is $279.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.21.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.72% and a net margin of 12.57%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $320.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.50.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc NYSE: ECL is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and related services. The company helps businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations through specialized products, technologies, equipment and on-site expertise.

Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing solutions, water treatment and process-management systems, food safety programs, infection prevention products, pest elimination services and solutions for industrial operations. Ecolab serves customers in industries including hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage production, life sciences, manufacturing, energy, retail and institutional services.

The company was founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory and adopted the Ecolab name in 1986.

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