Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.65

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.65 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th.

Ecolab has raised its dividend by an average of 6.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 33 years. Ecolab has a dividend payout ratio of 30.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ecolab to earn $8.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.5%.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $264.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $244.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.57. The company has a market cap of $74.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $268.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Research analysts predict that Ecolab will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.