Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Wells Fargo & Company

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating restated by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $240.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $265.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 0.63% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $238.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $67.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $253.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.