New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,183 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,767 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of Ecolab worth $44,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Ecolab Price Performance
ECL traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $266.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 848,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,251,393. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business's 50-day moving average price is $243.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.06. The stock has a market cap of $75.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $268.00.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.33.
View Our Latest Analysis on Ecolab
Ecolab Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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