Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives $230.47 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $230.47.

Several analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $219.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $223.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.93. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.79, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 117.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after acquiring an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. 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.