New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 444 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,800,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth $271,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of 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 worth $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $267.10 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $269.23. The company has a market cap of $75.63 billion, a PE ratio of 36.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $246.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.42.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Ecolab 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.