Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Reaches New 1-Year High at $249.00

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $249.00 and last traded at $248.39, with a volume of 667344 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $245.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.06.

Ecolab Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $70.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.41, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $365,420,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 period. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,240,000 after buying an additional 305,039 shares during the period. 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.