Heartland Bank & Trust Co Acquires Shares of 1,090 Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 11,199 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $273.07 on Wednesday. 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 $77.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $274.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.33. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $292.29.

Ecolab Company 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.