Analysts Set Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Target Price at $295.14

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $295.1429.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $307.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 21,714 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.41, for a total transaction of $5,676,256.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,989,868.04. This represents a 23.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 12,759 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,494,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth about $133,000. Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,725,000. Harvest Investment Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% during the third quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 1,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $475,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 88.7% in the third quarter. FSA Wealth Management LLC now owns 117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $255.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.70. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $221.62 and a 52-week high of $286.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $268.07 and a 200-day moving average of $267.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.49% and a return on equity of 22.55%. The business had revenue of $4.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Ecolab has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.480-7.580 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

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.