Ecolab Inc. $ECL Holdings Lifted by Vest Financial LLC

Posted by George Bondi on Oct 22nd, 2026

Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 183,614 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $50,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,422,340,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,617,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,007,851,000 after buying an additional 51,712 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,412,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $641,609,000 after buying an additional 88,096 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 58.8% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,243,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $596,902,000 after acquiring an additional 830,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $578,923,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Ecolab from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research raised Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $324.50.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Ecolab

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total transaction of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $287.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $80.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.84. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.15 and a 52 week high of $309.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $279.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $272.21.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last released its 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 net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 22.72%. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue 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, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 39.19%.

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.