Piper Sandler Lowers Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $270.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $305.00 to $270.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.06% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.27.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $234.65 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $243.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.76. Ecolab has a 12-month low of $194.34 and a 12-month 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 company has a market capitalization of $66.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a PEG ratio of 2.45 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. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in Ecolab by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during 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.