Ecolab's (ECL) "Outperform" Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $238.00 price objective on the basic materials company's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an overweight rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $226.76.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded down $0.98 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $225.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,168,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,650. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86. The stock has a market cap of $64.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.18, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $219.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $196.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Ecolab's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $802,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,023,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 65,845.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $267,237,000 after buying an additional 1,833,139 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.