State of Alaska Department of Revenue Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,944 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Ecolab by 750.9% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,519,000 after acquiring an additional 143,497 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Ecolab by 64.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $247.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $241.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $200.50 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 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.