Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target Raised to $256.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $237.00 to $256.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company's stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on ECL. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ecolab from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their price target for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $227.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $3.64 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $222.15. 1,361,978 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,213,464. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $196.68. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.73, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $802,069,000 after acquiring an additional 2,023,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 65,845.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $267,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,139 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 117.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.