First Trust Advisors LP Sells 49,420 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 977,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 49,420 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $267,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,190,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,898,565,000 after purchasing an additional 527,902 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,479,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,469,019,000 after buying an additional 22,986 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $847,544,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,610,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $703,452,000 after buying an additional 90,005 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 9.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,497,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $674,497,000 after buying an additional 205,634 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $312.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $325.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $265.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $335.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.56.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of ECL opened at $282.91 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $309.27. The company has a market capitalization of $79.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $285.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $274.63.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.20 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.91% and a return on equity of 22.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.81 EPS. Ecolab has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.430-8.630 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.670-1.730 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 40.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.37, for a total value of $6,147,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 90,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,907,351.78. This represents a 18.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $257.60 per share, for a total transaction of $193,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,933,816. This represents a 3.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.