Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $294.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $306.00 to $294.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 27.85% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of ECL opened at $229.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.61. The company has a market cap of $65.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 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.