Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Acquires New Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $526,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,805,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $964,885,000 after buying an additional 145,902 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $689,154,000 after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $292.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $271.04 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $272.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.19, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for 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 research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.