Strs Ohio Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Strs Ohio lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,258 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 4,899 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in Ecolab were worth $21,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $1.31 on Tuesday, hitting $220.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,733,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,440. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $63.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $222.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $198.49.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

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.