Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $270.00 to $310.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective points to a potential upside of 16.70% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $265.64 on Monday. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $268.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $245.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.16.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% 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. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 22.6% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,797 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Ecolab by 74.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,000 after purchasing an additional 8,068 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Ecolab by 5.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ecolab by 6.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares during the period. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $292,000. 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.