Banque Pictet & Cie SA Lowers Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,330 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,190,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,898,565,000 after buying an additional 527,902 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 90,005 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,497,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $674,497,000 after acquiring an additional 205,634 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,159,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $591,535,000 after acquiring an additional 63,629 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Ecolab by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,718,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,857,000 after purchasing an additional 65,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $324.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $296.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $335.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.56.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director Tracy B. Mckibben sold 1,265 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.66, for a total transaction of $390,454.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,358 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,505,760.28. The trade was a 10.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.37, for a total transaction of $6,147,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,907,351.78. This represents a 18.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $263.77 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $284.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $273.50. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $309.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The basic materials company reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.73% and a net margin of 12.91%.The firm had revenue of $4.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.430-8.630 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.670-1.730 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.11%.

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.