Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.57

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 1st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.57 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th.

Ecolab has raised its dividend by an average of 4.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 32 consecutive years. Ecolab has a dividend payout ratio of 30.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ecolab to earn $7.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.5%.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $250.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $71.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $243.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.09. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $253.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.67.

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.