Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Buys 632 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Somerset Group LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Somerset Group LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,008,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 44,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,198,000 after purchasing an additional 9,579 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 22,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,696,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,395,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $353,785,000 after purchasing an additional 11,521 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup cut their target price on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $283.3680 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $268.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $259.19. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $285.11. The stock has a market cap of $80.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.06. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This trade represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.