Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $260.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 11.21% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $233.79 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $236.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $66.76 billion, a PE ratio of 43.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.98 and a 200-day moving average of $209.60.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 288,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,807,000 after acquiring an additional 3,819 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 569.6% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 1,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.