EP Wealth Advisors buys $12.87M stake in Ecolab
What's the deal? EP Wealth Advisors LLCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc.Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (NYSE:ECL) in Q2 2026, acquiring 46,202 shares worth roughly $12,872,000, according to Holdings Channel.comDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The move adds to heavy institutional ownership of the water and hygiene company, which stands at 74.91%.
Why now? The purchase follows Ecolab's latest quarterly results, reported on 28 July 2026. Revenue rose 9.7% year on year to $4.42 billion, beating the $4.38 billion consensus.
What's the endgame? Ecolab posted earnings of $2.09 per share, topping analysts' consensus estimates by $0.01, with a net margin of 12.57% and return on equity of 22.72%. It guided to $2.13–$2.23 EPS for Q3 2026, and analysts expect $8.17 for 2026.
The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.73 per share, payable on 15 October 2026 to holders of record on 15 September 2026. That annualises to $2.92, a yield of 1.0%, with a payout ratio of 39.19%.
What could go wrong? Insiders have been selling. In the three months to June 2026, they offloaded 28,866 shares worth $7,878,801, including sales by a director and the chief operating officer. Zacks ResearchDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also cut Ecolab from "hold" to "strong sell" on 20 July 2026, though Robert W. BairdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → set a $305.00 price target on 29 July 2026.
The signal: Ecolab shares opened at $281.91 on 21 August 2026, near the middle of a 12-month range of $243.15 to $309.27, giving it a market cap of $79.03 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84. Fresh institutional buying against a backdrop of insider selling and mixed analyst calls points to a stock where opinion is split even as the underlying business keeps growing.
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