Arizona State Retirement System Buys 958 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 958 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 3,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $858,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,190,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP increased its stake in Ecolab by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 4,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.67.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $245.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $69.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $253.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $242.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $233.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.