Stone Summit Wealth LLC Acquires 170 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Stone Summit Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the quarter. Stone Summit Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $271.04 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.44. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.07. 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 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 firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders 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 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho increased their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

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.