State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 35.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 52,151 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $22,564,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Motco acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.67.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

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

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $250.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $71.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.42, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $253.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.91%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.