Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 4.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 648,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,930 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $178,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 64.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab
In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total value of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Ecolab Stock Down 0.7%
Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $2.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $288.63. 3,400,452 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,217,603. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $279.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.71. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $243.15 and a fifty-two week high of $309.27. The stock has a market cap of $80.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.87.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.72% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 39.19%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecolab from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.50.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on ECL
Ecolab Profile
Ecolab Inc (NYSE:ECL) is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and related services. The company helps businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations through specialized products, technologies, equipment and on-site expertise.
Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing solutions, water treatment and process-management systems, food safety programs, infection prevention products, pest elimination services and solutions for industrial operations. Ecolab serves customers in industries including hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage production, life sciences, manufacturing, energy, retail and institutional services.
The company was founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory and adopted the Ecolab name in 1986.
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