Stableford Capital II LLC Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Stableford Capital II LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 151 shares during the quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,876,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.4% during the first quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 14,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,551,000 after acquiring an additional 3,428 shares in the last quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Mirabaud & Cie SA now owns 5,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,291,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter worth $284,000. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased 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 in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. The trade was a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2%

ECL stock opened at $273.65 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $274.41 and its 200 day moving average is $263.40. The stock has a market cap of $77.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.