Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,336 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,077 shares during the quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $899,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 21.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $904,000 after buying an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 89.6% in the first quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,651 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 40.4% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $272.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $273.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $262.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.24 billion, a PE ratio of 36.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% 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.