Citigroup Increases Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Price Target to $257.00

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Citigroup from $256.00 to $257.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 13.21% from the stock’s previous close.

ECL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.65.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.86 on Wednesday, reaching $227.01. 396,318 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,210,114. The firm has a market cap of $64.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.21. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 87,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,190,000 after purchasing an additional 5,428 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 13.1% during the first quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,880,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 2.2% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 4,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Longbow Finance SA purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $3,375,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Institutional investors 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.