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

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $297.3333.

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $315.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $257.60 per share, for a total transaction of $193,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 23,035 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,933,816. The trade was a 3.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 5,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Anchyra Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $575,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 209,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,124,000 after purchasing an additional 4,028 shares in the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 661 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,860,283 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,013,557,000 after buying an additional 202,449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $282.59 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $269.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $269.83. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $80.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.57 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 41.95%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.