Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $280.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 19.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,835 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $341,000. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% in the second quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $7,899,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of ECL opened at $234.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $246.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.28.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

About Ecolab

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.