Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Purchases 9,367 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 9,367 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 3,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.8% during the first quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% in the third quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Altus USA Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 64.2% in 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 period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. 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 report on Thursday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecolab from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $327.67.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, hitting $282.24. 255,807 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,440,676. The company has a fifty day moving average of $279.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $270.82. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $243.15 and a one year high of $309.27. The company has a market capitalization of $79.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,431,170.48. This trade represents a 19.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Company 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.