RWA Wealth Partners LLC Sells 1,601 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• RWA Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. by 43.7%, reducing its shares from 3,660 to 2,059 shares during the first quarter.
• Ecolab reported a quarterly earnings miss with earnings per share of $1.89, falling short of analysts’ expectations of $1.90.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, with a total annualized dividend of $2.60, reflecting a yield of 0.9%.

RWA Wealth Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 43.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,059 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,601 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $525,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $703,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 298 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 shares were bought at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $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 corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of ECL traded up $0.71 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $279.07. 1,817,272 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,167,374. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The business has a 50-day moving average of $270.58 and a 200-day moving average of $260.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.06. 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 (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.21.

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.