Royal Bank of Canada Buys 27,619 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $906,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,980,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $277.20 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.80. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 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.