Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Purchases 940 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 48.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,896 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 940 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.6% during the first quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 32.4% during the first 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 lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first 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 bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1,189.2% during the first 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. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $268.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $76.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $274.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $265.99. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.