JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $225.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $220.00 to $225.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays raised Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $227.49 on Wednesday. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after purchasing an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares in 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.