Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 141 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $860,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 6,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $121,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Ecolab by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,236 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target 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. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of 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 upped their price target 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Three equities research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $276.60 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The stock has a market cap of $78.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $272.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend 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%.

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.