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

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $222.19.

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Motco bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.3 %

ECL opened at $227.93 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $216.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $194.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.43 earnings per share 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 $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

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.