Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 4,092 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 77.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,092 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 87,521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,360,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares in the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $776,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 40,533.3% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Ecolab by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 440,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,279,000 after buying an additional 15,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $749,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $265.43.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5 %

ECL opened at $254.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $72.70 billion, a PE ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $245.50 and a 200-day moving average of $237.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $256.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

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

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.