Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $2.15 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 5.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,454,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,563,731,000 after buying an additional 1,044,370 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2,154.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,032,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,884,161,000 after buying an additional 14,365,723 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,935,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,496,059,000 after buying an additional 31,277 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,012,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $628,258,000 after buying an additional 320,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.3% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,555,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $445,590,000 after buying an additional 574,200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.73% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Inc. (ECL) traded down 0.24% during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $131.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 824,033 shares. The firm has a market cap of $37.95 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98 and a beta of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $110.65 and a 12-month high of $134.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $132.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 9.66% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post $4.80 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.79%.

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Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Deutsche Bank AG upped their target price on Ecolab from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (up previously from $133.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Zacks Investment Research lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Credit Suisse Group AG set a $128.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity increased their price target on Ecolab from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $133.87.

In other Ecolab news, SVP Bruno Lavandier sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.52, for a total transaction of $133,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,191,265.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christophe Beck sold 6,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.11, for a total transaction of $884,558.49. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 42,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,391,879.09. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 44,810 shares of company stock valued at $5,897,361. Company insiders own 1.49% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene and energy technologies and services. The Company’s cleaning and sanitizing programs and products, pest elimination services and equipment maintenance and repair services support customers in the foodservice, food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, government and education, retail, textile care and commercial facilities management sectors in over 170 countries.