Cullen Investment Group LTD. Acquires 2,521 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Cullen Investment Group LTD. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 77.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,776 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,521 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,556,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 6.6% during the first quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,651 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. increased its position in Ecolab by 32.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 15.6% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,414,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the period. Mirabaud & Cie SA increased its position in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 19.3% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 120,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,467,000 after acquiring an additional 19,431 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8%

ECL opened at $272.74 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $272.57 and its 200-day moving average is $261.41. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $77.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.41, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

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.