Alfano Nicholas J. 4

What Happened Nicholas J. Alfano, EVP & President — Global Water for Ecolab (ECL), exercised options on 9,501 shares and immediately sold those 9,501 shares on Feb 17, 2026. The options were exercised at $137.09 per share for a total exercise cost of $1,302,492, and the shares were sold in the open market at a weighted average price of $303.58 per share for total proceeds of $2,884,314 — yielding roughly $1.58M in net proceeds. The Form 4 shows the option conversion step (derivative disposal) recorded at $0, reflecting the exercised-to-stock conversion.

Key Details

• Transaction date: 2026-02-17 (filed 2026-02-18 — timely).
• Option exercise: 9,501 shares × $137.09 = $1,302,492 (M = exercise/conversion).
• Open-market sale: 9,501 shares × weighted avg $303.58 = $2,884,314 (S = sale). Sales executed in multiple trades at $303.49–$303.65 (F2).
• Derivative line: 9,501 shares recorded as disposed at $0 reflecting conversion to common stock.
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the provided excerpt.
• Notable footnotes: automatic dividend reinvestment added 3.5 shares since last report (F1); 401(k) plan units noted (1,481.033 units ≈ 2,715 shares) as of Jan 31, 2026 (F3); option granted under Ecolab 2010 Stock Incentive Plan with typical vesting schedule (F4).

Context This is a common “exercise-and-sell” (cashless-style) sequence: options were exercised and the resulting shares were sold the same day, converting option value into cash. Such transactions are typically routine compensation-related liquidity events rather than direct signals about an insider’s view of the company. The filing appears timely (reported the next calendar day).