Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its target price raised by Argus from $215.00 to $250.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. Argus currently has a buy rating on the basic materials company’s stock.
ECL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Ecolab from a sell rating to a hold rating and set a $207.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on Ecolab from $172.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. BidaskClub downgraded Ecolab from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, December 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Ecolab from $210.00 to $200.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $170.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, November 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $201.57.
Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $221.75 on Thursday. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $124.60 and a 1 year high of $231.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business’s 50-day moving average is $218.91 and its 200-day moving average is $204.65. The company has a market capitalization of $63.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. Ecolab had a positive return on equity of 18.14% and a negative net margin of 8.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 14th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.99%.
In other news, EVP Michael C. Mccormick sold 2,921 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total transaction of $642,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,091 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,120,020. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Douglas M. Baker, Jr. sold 148,107 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.48, for a total value of $32,654,631.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 683,631 shares in the company, valued at $150,726,962.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 199,572 shares of company stock worth $43,964,233. Insiders own 1.22% of the company’s stock.
Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 3.7% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,078,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,012,541,000 after purchasing an additional 712,842 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,486,521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $896,587,000 after acquiring an additional 582,990 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,146 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $523,466,000 after acquiring an additional 100,616 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,894,542 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $378,605,000 after acquiring an additional 30,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 62.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,635,597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,858,000 after acquiring an additional 629,903 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.72% of the company’s stock.
About Ecolab
Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and energy technologies and services worldwide. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional, Global Energy, and Other segments. Its Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions primarily to industrial customers within the manufacturing, food and beverage processing, chemical, mining and primary metals, power generation, pulp and paper, and commercial laundry industries.
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