CNB Bank Raises Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. CNB Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 5,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 178.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8%

ECL opened at $277.35 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $264.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total value of $383,398.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. The trade was a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Profile

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.