Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Receives $292.00 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $292.00.

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $293.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 176.7% in the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 202.6% in the 2nd quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 81.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0%

ECL stock opened at $276.60 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. The firm has a market cap of $78.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.93, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

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.