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

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $260.00 target price on the basic materials company's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's target price indicates a potential upside of 6.34% from the company's previous close.

ECL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $243.44.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded up $1.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $244.50. The stock had a trading volume of 985,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,167,149. The company's 50 day moving average price is $236.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.79. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $245.93. The stock has a market cap of $69.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Comerica Bank increased its position in Ecolab by 49.9% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 78,509 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $13,299,000 after buying an additional 26,136 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Ecolab by 14.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 27,173 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,603,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 4.3% in the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.5% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $782,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.