Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,789 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,271 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Ecolab were worth $18,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 176.7% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.1%

ECL stock traded up $0.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $267.09. 966,348 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,182,298. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.76 billion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $274.17. The company has a 50-day moving average of $263.56 and a 200-day moving average of $253.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $287.00.

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.