Shell Asset Management Co. Buys 1,670 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• Shel Asset Management Co. has increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 20.3%, now owning a total of 9,900 shares worth $2,667,000.
• Analysts have varying opinions on Ecolab, with Mizuho raising their price target from $285 to $305 and a consensus target price of $292.29 among them.
• Ecolab recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 0.9%.

Shell Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 20.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,900 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.6% in the first quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,876,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 32.4% in the first quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 15.6% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter worth $284,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. 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 $273.25 and its 200 day moving average is $262.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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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