California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 739,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 177,579 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.26% of Ecolab worth $173,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $249.29 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $256.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.18. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 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.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by 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.