New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 25,790 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 447,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,790 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.16% of Ecolab worth $88,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after buying an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% during the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after buying an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,128,000 after buying an additional 47,351 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $1.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $220.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 252,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,206,577. The stock has a market cap of $63.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.97, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.93.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

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.