Kera Capital Partners Inc. Makes New $276,000 Investment in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% in the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $272.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $77.36 billion, a PE ratio of 36.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $272.57 and a 200-day moving average of $261.37. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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). 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 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.