Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Purchased by Valley National Advisers Inc.

Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1,760.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,469 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Ecolab from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.50.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $288.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $80.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day moving average of $280.53 and a 200-day moving average of $272.53. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $243.15 and a one year high of $309.27.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 22.72%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other 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 value of $5,003,860.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.