Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,851 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,205 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $248.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $193.46 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $250.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.70.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

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.