Ecolab (ECL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. Its Global Institutional & Specialty segment provides specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, government and education, and retail industries. The Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segment offers specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the healthcare, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries, such as infection prevention and surgical solutions, and end-to-end cleaning and contamination control solutions under the Ecolab, Microtek, and Anios brand names. In addition, the company provides pest elimination services to detect, eliminate, and prevent pests, such as rodents and insects in restaurants, food and beverage processors, hotels, grocery operations, and other commercial segments including education, life sciences, and healthcare customers. Further, it offers colloidal silica for binding and polishing applications in semiconductor, catalyst, and aerospace component manufacturing, as well as chemical industries; and products and services that manage wash process through custom designed programs, premium products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management, and reduction, as well as real time data management. It sells its products through field sales and corporate account personnel, distributors, and dealers. Ecolab Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $234.77 to $239.63
• 50-Day Range: $235.53 to $261.46
• 52-Week Range: $193.46 to $262.61
• Volume: 2.34 million shs
• Average Volume: 1.10 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $67.47 billion
• P/E Ratio: 33.42
• Dividend Yield: 1.09%
• Price Target: $280.60
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Ecolab Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ecolab scored higher than 97% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 14th out of 193 stocks in the basic materials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Ecolab has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.59, and is based on 10 buy ratings, 7 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ecolab has been the subject of 10 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 12.33%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ecolab are expected to grow by 12.33% in the coming year, from $6.65 to $7.47 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ecolab is 33.42, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 112.74.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ecolab is 33.42, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Basic Materials sector average P/E ratio of about 112.35.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Ecolab has a PEG Ratio of 2.45. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Ecolab has a P/B Ratio of 8.42. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.79% of the float of Ecolab has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ecolab has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ecolab has recently increased by 5.26%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Ecolab pays a meaningful dividend of 1.10%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Ecolab has been increasing its dividend for 33 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Ecolab is 36.47%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Ecolab will have a dividend payout ratio of 34.81% next year. This indicates that Ecolab will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Environmental Score: -2.63

Percentage of Shares Shorted

0.79% of the float of Ecolab has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ecolab has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ecolab has recently increased by 5.26%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.1 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.84

News Sentiment

Ecolab has a news sentiment score of 0.84. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.48 average news sentiment score of Basic Materials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 13 news articles for Ecolab this week, compared to 13 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 2 people have searched for ECL on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 8 people have added Ecolab to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -20% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Ecolab insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $205,225,417.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.04% of the stock of Ecolab is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

74.91% of the stock of Ecolab is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

ECL Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have ECL shares performed this year?

Ecolab's stock was trading at $198.35 at the beginning of the year. Since then, ECL stock has increased by 20.1% and is now trading at $238.29.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Ecolab's earnings last quarter?

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October, 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

Does Ecolab have any subsidiaries?

Ecolab subsidiaries include Purolite, EPN Water Col Ltd., National Wiper Alliance Inc., TechTex Holdings Limited, VanBaele Hygiene AG, CID Lines, Gallay Medical & Scientific Pty Ltd., and others.

Who are Ecolab's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Ecolab include State Street Corp (3.98%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.83%), Wellington Management Group LLP (1.82%) and UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC (1.36%). Insiders that own company stock include William H Gates III, Christophe Beck, Michael C Mccormick, Arthur J Higgins, Victoria Reich, Laurie M Marsh, Angela M Busch, David Maclennan, Larry L Berger, Nicholas J Alfano, Gregory B Cook, Tracy B Mckibben, Gail Peterson and Jeffrey M Ettinger.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Ecolab?

Shares of ECL stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Ecolab own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Ecolab investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO), Adobe (ADBE), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Arista Networks (ANET) and ServiceNow (NOW).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 10/15 Dividend: 9/17/2024
• Dividend Payable: 10/15/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/29/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 1/15 Dividend: 12/17/2024
• Today: 12/22/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Dividend Payable: 1/15/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Basic Materials
• Industry: Soap, detergents, & cleaning preparations; perfumes, & cosmetics
• Sub-Industry: Specialty Chemicals
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ECL
• CUSIP: 27886510
• CIK: 31462
• Web: www.ecolab.com
• Phone: (800) 232-6522
• Fax: 651-293-2092
• Employees: 48,000
• Year Founded: 1923

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $280.60
• High Stock Price Target: $310.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $250.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +17.8%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.59
• Research Coverage: 17 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $7.13
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 33.42
• Forward P/E Ratio: 35.83
• P/E Growth: 2.45
• Net Income: $1.37 billion
• Net Margins: 13.05%
• Pretax Margin: 16.42%
• Return on Equity: 22.12%
• Return on Assets: 8.47%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.81
• Current Ratio: 1.30
• Quick Ratio: 0.97

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $15.67 billion
• Price / Sales: 4.30
• Cash Flow: $8.23 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 28.97
• Book Value: $28.31 per share
• Price / Book: 8.42

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 283,162,000
• Free Float: 283,049,000
• Market Cap: $67.47 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.13