Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 42.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,929 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,531,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after acquiring an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.0% during 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 valued at $964,885,000 after acquiring an additional 145,902 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $906,900,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 valued at $689,154,000 after acquiring an additional 173,298 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $273.07 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $274.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $263.33. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 the consensus estimate 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, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Ecolab 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.