Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target Increased to $234.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective increased by BMO Capital Markets from $227.00 to $234.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on ECL. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $233.65.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $224.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $64.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $224.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.37. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 19,062.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.