Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives $219.06 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $222.19.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group raised their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,040,000. Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,128,000 after buying an additional 47,351 shares during the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,836,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 189,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,131,000 after buying an additional 5,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 890,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $150,837,000 after buying an additional 71,206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE ECL opened at $230.90 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $66.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $216.26 and its 200 day moving average is $193.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

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.