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

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 Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $266.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $249.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.42. The firm has a market cap of $75.49 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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 return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities 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 will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 quarter, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

About Ecolab

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.