BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) to “Outperform”

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) was upgraded by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $290.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $279.00. BMO Capital Markets’ target price points to a potential upside of 22.02% from the company’s previous close.

ECL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.60.

Ecolab Stock Down 3.5 %

ECL opened at $237.66 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $67.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $249.84 and its 200 day moving average is $246.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 9.2% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth $1,947,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 56,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,368,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $9,830,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.