Royal Bank of Canada Increases Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $306.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target hoisted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $260.00 to $306.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.18% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ECL. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.73.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.1 %

ECL opened at $250.46 on Monday. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $253.57. The company has a market cap of $71.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.38, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.47.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other 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.