MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Purchases New Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

by · The Cerbat Gem

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 13,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,723,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $530,000. Horizon Investments LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 4.0% during the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 4,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Ecolab by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 773,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $196,063,000 after purchasing an additional 7,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 750 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $257.60 per share, for a total transaction of $193,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,035 shares in the company, valued at $5,933,816. The trade was a 3.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.14.

Read Our Latest Report on ECL

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $263.51 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $266.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $268.96. The company has a market cap of $74.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. 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 issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

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.

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