Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Raised to Buy at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $260.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $216.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $221.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $221.50 and its 200-day moving average is $197.78.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $326,000. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $226,000. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 8,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,899,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 12,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,833,000 after buying an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 8,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently 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.