Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 1,282 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,282 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 73,913 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after buying an additional 62,434 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $251.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.56, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $244.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.94. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.57.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

About Ecolab

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.