New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 2,300 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 423,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $99,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Invesco LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $266.07 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $268.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $244.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $247.19. 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 firm has a market cap of $75.34 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.