Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECLFree Report) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $280.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $263.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on ECL. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Read Our Latest Report on ECL

Ecolab Trading Up 2.3 %

ECL opened at $252.65 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $241.44 and a 200 day moving average of $245.68. The firm has a market cap of $71.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECLGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 425,430 shares of company stock worth $104,201,556. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

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