JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $225.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $220.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target suggests a potential downside of 1.09% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.65.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $227.49. 1,068,171 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,213,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $224.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.54. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 337,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,864,000 after buying an additional 1,349 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $490,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 23,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,457,000 after buying an additional 8,630 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $852,000. Finally, Smith Salley Wealth Management increased its position in Ecolab by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 5,421 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.