Evergreen Capital Management LLC Purchases 253 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $469,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 176.7% in the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $38,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $40,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $277.20 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $271.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.85. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ECL. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded 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 given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $291.21.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% 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.