Brokerages Set Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Price Target at $279.87

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $279.87.

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Burney Co. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $232,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 262.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 57,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,202,000 after acquiring an additional 41,409 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $248.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $70.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $251.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.19. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $188.80 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

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.