Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Rating Lowered to Neutral at UBS Group

UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $276.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $246.29 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $174.08 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $252.45 and a 200-day moving average of $242.49.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.