B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Takes $577,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 2,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $577,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $284,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in Ecolab by 1,189.2% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,606,000 after buying an additional 133,192 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. bought a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $29,956,000. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 437,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $117,794,000 after acquiring an additional 8,608 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 108,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,133,000 after acquiring an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $259.70 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $265.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $268.95. The stock has a market cap of $73.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.31, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.57 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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 and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 37.36%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 750 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,035 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,933,816. The trade was a 3.37% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.