Mizuho Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Mizuho in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $194.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.01% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ECL. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. TheStreet upgraded Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $172.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Ecolab from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.86.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $177.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $131.04 and a 12 month high of $191.41. The stock has a market cap of $50.72 billion, a PE ratio of 43.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $183.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.55.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $183.73 per share, with a total value of $119,424.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,768,994.83. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECL. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $209,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,266,000. Western Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $702,000. Finally, Comerica Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $97,780,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.91% 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 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.