Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $265.74 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $267.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $242.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.20.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 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 paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 (DPR) is 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is 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.