Fielder Capital Group LLC Buys New Shares in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Fielder Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,651 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.4% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Mirabaud & Cie SA increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133,192 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $290.92.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE ECL opened at $277.35 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $274.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.25. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its 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 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. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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