LRI Investments LLC Has $256,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

LRI Investments LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 160 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% in the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised 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 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. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $271.80 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $77.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $274.05 and its 200 day moving average is $263.11. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio 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.