Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $37.65 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,386 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $37,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 178.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 34,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,640,000 after buying an additional 2,780 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 152.4% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 62,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,879,000 after buying an additional 37,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,671,000 after buying an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $280.02 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $274.36 and its 200-day moving average is $265.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $79.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $286.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,354 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.16, for a total transaction of $383,398.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 11,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,108.84. This represents a 10.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $291.69.

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.