Financial Connections Group Inc. Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st 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 period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,428 shares during the period. Mirabaud & Cie SA boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% during the 1st 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $271.80 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $274.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho increased 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. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

About Ecolab

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.