Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $294.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its target price decreased by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $306.00 to $294.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 27.06% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded down $3.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $231.39. The company had a trading volume of 380,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,234. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $243.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.68. 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 cap of $65.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after acquiring an additional 735,934 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 295.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after acquiring an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after acquiring an additional 258,971 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in Ecolab by 750.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Ecolab by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares in the last quarter. 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.