Shell Asset Management Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Shell Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 20.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,900 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing 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 institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% during the first quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,876,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted 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 valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. Mirabaud & Cie SA lifted 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 valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Mizuho increased 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. UBS Group increased 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3%

ECL opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $79.07 billion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $273.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

Ecolab 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.