Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Given New $257.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its target price upped by Citigroup from $256.00 to $257.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

ECL has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their target price for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. 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, Ecolab presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $233.65.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE ECL opened at $224.98 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $224.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $202.37. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $64.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after buying an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% in the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,298,000 after buying an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,128,000 after purchasing an additional 47,351 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.