Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position 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 worth $10,876,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.4% in the first quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 3,428 shares in the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,606,000 after buying an additional 133,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho set a $315.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.62.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $257.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.00 billion, a PE ratio of 36.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $273.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $266.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.12 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.57 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.04% 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.