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

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%.

Ecolab has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 33 consecutive years. Ecolab has a dividend payout ratio of 30.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ECL traded up $1.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $267.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 936,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,241,839. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $215.41 and a twelve month high of $268.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $75.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $244.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.19.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% 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 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.