Pure Financial Advisors LLC Buys 138 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Pure Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after buying an additional 93,409 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,805,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $964,885,000 after buying an additional 145,902 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Ecolab by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after buying an additional 27,619 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $689,154,000 after buying an additional 173,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $276.60 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.12. The company has a market cap of $78.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

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.