Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Fulcrum Capital LLC

Fulcrum Capital LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth $26,000. Conning Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.1% during the second quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 17,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $52,000. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in Ecolab by 11.9% during the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 369,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $98,854,000 after purchasing an additional 39,264 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services lifted its position in Ecolab by 2.5% during the second quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 12,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,461,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of 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, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3%

ECL opened at $271.80 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. The company has a fifty day moving average of $274.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $262.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 during 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. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

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

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.