Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Given New $240.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $240.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ECL. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $222.19.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $231.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.11. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $231.86. 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 market capitalization of $66.27 billion, a PE ratio of 48.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $802,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,023,685 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 65,845.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,237,000 after buying an additional 1,833,139 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.