Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Mizuho

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by equities researchers at Mizuho in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $194.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.03% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Northcoast Research lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.86.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Friday, hitting $177.94. The company had a trading volume of 810,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,076,737. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $50.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $183.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.29. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $131.04 and a fifty-two week high of $191.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.03. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 7.96%. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $183.73 per share, for a total transaction of $119,424.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,768,994.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by 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 Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.