Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Sells 5,704 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 12.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,704 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $10,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Modern Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $284,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.2% during the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 144,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133,192 shares during the last quarter. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,956,000. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 437,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $117,794,000 after buying an additional 8,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 108,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,133,000 after buying an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on Ecolab from $299.00 to $291.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $295.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total value of $381,451.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. The trade was a 19.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,933,816. The trade was a 3.37% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $263.51 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.70. The company has a market capitalization of $74.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $266.63 and a 200 day moving average of $268.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The business had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS and its FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 41.95%.

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.