Dudley & Shanley Inc. Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Dudley & Shanley Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 99,043 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,650 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises about 4.4% of Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $27,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $6,422,340,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,622,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,788,497,000 after buying an additional 4,110,472 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,022,334,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,617,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,007,851,000 after acquiring an additional 51,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Ecolab by 3.8% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,412,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $641,609,000 after acquiring an additional 88,096 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $327.67.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $3.60 on Tuesday, hitting $280.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 334,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,446,434. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $243.15 and a one year high of $309.27. The firm has a market cap of $78.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $279.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $270.37.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 22.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

Ecolab 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.