Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target Increased to $306.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $260.00 to $306.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $257.73.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $253.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $72.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.90, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $253.57. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $243.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $235.29.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 73,913 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,933,000 after buying an additional 62,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.