Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $288.00.

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Ecolab stock opened at $250.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $71.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $252.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $249.98. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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, analysts expect that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,394,000 after acquiring an additional 708,432 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. 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.