Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ Has $664,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (ECL)

Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ held its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock at the end of the second quarter. Supplemental Annuity Collective Trust of NJ’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,454,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,563,731,000 after buying an additional 1,044,370 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.73% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE ECL) opened at 130.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75 and a beta of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $110.65 and a 52-week high of $134.89. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $132.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 9.66%. 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 company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post $4.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.79%.

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, May 1st. J P Morgan Chase & Co raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $120.00 to $138.00 in a report on Friday, May 26th. Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $141.00 target price (up from $133.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Zacks Investment Research downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG upped their target price on Ecolab from $132.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $134.20.

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III purchased 75,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $132.57 per share, for a total transaction of $10,009,035.00. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Bruno Lavandier sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.52, for a total value of $133,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,922 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,265.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,851 shares of company stock worth $5,012,802. Corporate 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.