Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Rating Increased to Buy at Mizuho

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Mizuho from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $260.00 target price on the basic materials company's stock, up from their previous target price of $216.00. Mizuho's price target indicates a potential upside of 17.27% from the company's previous close.

ECL has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ECL traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $221.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,134,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,099. The company has a market capitalization of $63.39 billion, a PE ratio of 46.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The company's fifty day moving average price is $221.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.02.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peak Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,424,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 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.