Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target Increased to $225.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $220.00 to $225.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $233.65.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $224.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $64.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.37.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.49 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,240,000 after buying an additional 305,039 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after purchasing an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,215,000 after buying an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.