Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 2,342 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 24.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,261 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,342 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund's holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 15.6% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,414,000 after buying an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,822,000 after acquiring an additional 5,189 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. DJE Kapital AG bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $895,000. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 104,153 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $24,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.1%

ECL traded down $2.86 on Thursday, reaching $263.60. 1,675,458 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,168,911. The company has a market cap of $74.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $257.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $251.05. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 35.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $283.13.

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.