California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 452,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,858 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.16% of Ecolab worth $84,503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Andra AP fonden increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 173.6% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 29,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,414,000 after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 162.6% during the second quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.5% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 256,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,963,000 after purchasing an additional 13,314 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.1% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 512,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,614,000 after purchasing an additional 10,230 shares in the last quarter. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE ECL opened at $183.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.66, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.58. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $140.13 and a one year high of $191.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.99 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 18.81%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ECL. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.64.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.