Dearborn Partners LLC Buys New Shares in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 70,503 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,643,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth 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 period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 39.8% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $373,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 22.9% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 1,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.8% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 21,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,684,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Ecolab by 49.4% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 58,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,741,000 after buying an additional 19,324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on ECL. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.56.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, COO Darrell R. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.89, for a total value of $2,608,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 32,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,539,712.37. This represents a 23.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Michel D. Doukeris bought 7,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $258.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,999,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 8,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,148,108. This represents a 1,345.49% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of ECL stock opened at $286.13 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $243.15 and a twelve month high of $309.27. The stock has a market cap of $80.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $278.01 and a 200 day moving average of $273.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.01. The business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. 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 8.17 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.