Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target Raised to $270.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target hoisted by UBS Group from $269.00 to $270.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on ECL. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an overweight rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5 %

ECL opened at $234.31 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $236.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company has a market capitalization of $66.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $227.29 and a 200-day moving average of $210.18.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after acquiring an additional 304,402 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,078,000 after acquiring an additional 123,572 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $432,945,000 after acquiring an additional 41,545 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,224,000 after acquiring an additional 85,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,215,000 after acquiring an additional 91,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.