Ecolab (ECL) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. Ecolab serves customers internationally through operations and field teams across numerous regions. Christophe Beck has served as the company’s president and chief executive officer since 2022.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $290.90 to $294.28
• 50-Day Range: $269.61 to $290.87
• 52-Week Range: $243.15 to $309.27
• Volume: 103,376 shs
• Average Volume: 1.43 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $82.16 billion
• P/E Ratio: 39.38
• Dividend Yield: 1.00%
• Price Target: $324.50
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Ecolab Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ecolab scored higher than 86% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 75th out of 227 stocks in the materials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Ecolab has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.91, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 19 buy ratings, 3 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Ecolab has a consensus price target of $324.50, representing about 11.6% upside from its current price of $290.67.

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: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 14.46%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ecolab are expected to grow by 14.46% in the coming year, from $8.16 to $9.34 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ecolab is 39.02, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 36.34.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ecolab is 39.02, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Materials sector average P/E ratio of about 22.10.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Ecolab has a PEG Ratio of 2.79. 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 8.36. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.92% 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 4.39.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ecolab has recently increased by 2.07%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Ecolab pays a meaningful dividend of 1.01%, 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 39.19%. 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 31.26% next year. This indicates that Ecolab will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.08

News Sentiment

Ecolab has a news sentiment score of 1.08. 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 0.43 average news sentiment score of Materials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 7 news articles for Ecolab this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

6 people have searched for ECL on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 50% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

7 people have added Ecolab to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 75% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 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 $5,003,861.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.50% 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.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/28/2026
• Record date for 10/15 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 10/15 Dividend: 9/15/2026
• Dividend Payable: 10/15/2026
• Today: 10/16/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/27/2026
• Investor Day 2026: 11/17/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Materials
• Industry: Chemicals
• Sub-Industry: Specialty Chemicals
• Current Symbol: NYSE:ECL
• 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 Price Target for Ecolab: $324.50
• High Price Target: $345.00
• Low Price Target: $295.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +11.6%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.91
• Research Coverage: 23 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $7.45
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 39.02
• Forward P/E Ratio: 35.62
• P/E Growth: 2.79
• Net Income: $2.08 billion
• Net Margins: 12.57%
• Pretax Margin: 15.61%
• Return on Equity: 22.72%
• Return on Assets: 8.71%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.18
• Current Ratio: 1.84
• Quick Ratio: 1.57

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $16.08 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.07
• Cash Flow: $11.20 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 25.96
• Book Value: $34.77 per share
• Price / Book: 8.36

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 280,330,000
• Free Float: 278,927,000
• Market Cap: $81.48 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.87