Ecolab price target raised to $164 from $140 at Stifel

Stifel analyst Shlomo Rosenbaum raised the firm’s price target on Ecolab to $164 from $140 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. The firm’s primary takeaway from the earnings report is a belief that the company’s guidance is "much less at risk than what we had seen" over the last year plus, the analyst tells investors, citing the building pipeline, continued pricing strength, and increased cost takeout plans. The firm sees guidance as much less likely to be revised downward, but adds that the current multiple is "towards the high-end of the P/E valuation range in which the stock traded in the six years prior to the COVID period."