Bank of Montreal Can Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 248,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,120 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $67,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,513 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 347.4% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,966 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.14.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $258.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $271.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.89. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 37.36%.

About Ecolab

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.