MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH Purchases Shares of 13,602 Ecolab Inc. $ECL

MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,790,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $337.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research cut Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.56.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Benjamin M. Clark bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $263.83 per share, with a total value of $263,830.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 1,083 shares in the company, valued at $285,727.89. This trade represents a 1,204.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Darrell R. Brown sold 10,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.89, for a total value of $2,608,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 32,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,539,712.37. This trade represents a 23.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE ECL opened at $286.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $278.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.70. The company has a market capitalization of $80.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.88. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.15 and a 12 month high of $309.27.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 22.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.