Patten Group Inc. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Patten Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 142 shares during the quarter. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Ecolab by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Ecolab by 125.5% in the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 201,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $54,233,000 after buying an additional 112,030 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 30,105 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,111,000 after buying an additional 1,217 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ECL opened at $278.09 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $274.66 and a 200 day moving average of $264.23. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $78.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%.The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on ECL. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.92.

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.