Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 934 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 934 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total value of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $247.39 on Friday. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $241.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $200.50 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.