Brokerages Set Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Price Target at $283.13

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $283.13.

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of ECL opened at $261.02 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.03 billion, a PE ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $255.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after buying an additional 261,489 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,036,485,000 after purchasing an additional 93,409 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,805,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $964,885,000 after purchasing an additional 145,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,577,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $906,900,000 after purchasing an additional 27,619 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.