Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Finviz reports. The brokerage presently has a $280.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $263.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.81% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $246.02 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 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.