Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives $288.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $288.00.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $252.06 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $71.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $252.89 and a 200-day moving average of $250.00.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after buying an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after buying an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.