New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys 1,928 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 192,111 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,928 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.07% of Ecolab worth $48,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $755,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 4,145 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $286.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $1.86 on Friday, hitting $274.32. The company had a trading volume of 513,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,279. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $274.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $260.88 and a 200-day moving average of $251.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.