New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 owned 0.15% of Ecolab worth $99,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 144.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $266.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.34 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $244.08 and its 200 day moving average is $247.19. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.94 and a fifty-two week high of $268.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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, February 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This trade 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 is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.