Puzo Michael J Sells 150 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Puzo Michael J cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Puzo Michael J’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in Ecolab by 8.0% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 19.8% during the first quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 15.6% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 11.2% during the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:ECL opened at $278.80 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $79.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $273.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $262.56. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last posted its 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). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for 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. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, 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. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Saturday, September 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

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.