UBS Group Cuts Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $276.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective lowered by UBS Group from $288.00 to $276.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ECL. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $250.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $240.66 on Thursday. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $249.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $240.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 42.1% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $990,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.