David Maclennan Purchases 750 Shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Director David Maclennan bought 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,933,816. This represents a 3.37% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $253.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $267.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.06. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 41.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.5% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 290,238 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,581,000 after buying an additional 97,361 shares during the period. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 31.3% during the 1st quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 2,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 4.9% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 15,775 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,999,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a report on Monday, November 3rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Mizuho set a $315.00 price target on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

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.