Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock Has Average Price Target of $327.67

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $324.50.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $287.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $342.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $281.62 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $279.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.96. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $243.15 and a fifty-two week high of $309.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.95 billion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.72% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Ecolab has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.230 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total transaction of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,431,170.48. The trade was a 19.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $6,422,340,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $244,381,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ecolab by 63.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 10,622,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,788,497,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110,472 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $578,923,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $495,109,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc (NYSE:ECL) is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and related services. The company helps businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations through specialized products, technologies, equipment and on-site expertise.

Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing solutions, water treatment and process-management systems, food safety programs, infection prevention products, pest elimination services and solutions for industrial operations. Ecolab serves customers in industries including hospitality, healthcare, food and beverage production, life sciences, manufacturing, energy, retail and institutional services.

The company was founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory and adopted the Ecolab name in 1986.