Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC Buys Shares of 2,268 Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Hutchinson Financial Advisors INC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 2,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $323.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $294.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on 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 ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $256.51 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $272.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $266.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.36%.

Ecolab Company 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.