New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 413,741 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 9,533 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.15% of Ecolab worth $104,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after acquiring an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $3.56 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $264.67. The company had a trading volume of 1,146,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,183,035. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $263.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.49. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $274.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.07 billion, a PE ratio of 35.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.03. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price target 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $288.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.