Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 69 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Ecolab by 9.6% in the second quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 6,772 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 49.0% during the 2nd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $576,000 after buying an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 8,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,294,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE increased its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 19,994 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,387,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd increased its holdings in Ecolab by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. S Bank Fund Management Ltd now owns 16,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,393,000 after acquiring an additional 2,178 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE:ECL opened at $276.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $263.66. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $78.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.92.

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.