Sen. John Boozman Buys Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares

Senator John Boozman (R-Arkansas) recently bought shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL). In a filing disclosed on March 06th, the Senator disclosed that they had bought between $1,001 and $15,000 in Ecolab stock on February 26th.

Senator John Boozman also recently made the following trade(s):

• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Sprott Lithium Miners ETF (NASDAQ:LITP) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Invesco Short Term Treasury ETF (NYSEARCA:TBLL) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of First Trust Global Tactical Commodity Strategy Fund (NASDAQ:FTGC) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund (NYSEARCA:EMLP) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) on 2/26/2025.
• Sold $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IVW) on 2/26/2025.
• Purchased $1,001 – $15,000 in shares of Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:URNM) on 2/25/2025.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $269.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $250.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $249.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $74,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 207.8% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,375,000 after acquiring an additional 19,501 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 78.0% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $230,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Senator Boozman

John Boozman (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. Senate from Arkansas. He assumed office on January 3, 2011. His current term ends on January 3, 2029. Boozman (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate to represent Arkansas. He won in the general election on November 8, 2022. Boozman won re-election in 2016. He faced Democrat Conner Eldridge, Libertarian Frank Gilbert, and write-in candidate Jason Tate in the general election. Arkansas’ U.S. Senate race was rated as safely Republican in 2016. Boozman began his political career in the U.S. House. He won a special election in 2001 and served in that position until his election to the Senate in 2010. Prior to his political career, Boozman worked as an optometrist. As of a 2014 analysis of multiple outside rankings, Boozman is an average Republican member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Republican Party on the majority of bills. Below is an abbreviated outline of Boozman’s academic, professional, and political career: 2011-Present: U.S. Senator from Arkansas 2001-2011: U.S. Representative from Arkansas 1977: Graduated from Southern College of Optometry

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.