Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Receives Buy (B) Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Ecolab has received a "buy" rating from **Weiss Ratings**, with several other firms issuing positive upgrades, indicating strong market confidence in the stock.
• The company reported a miss in earnings for the last quarter, posting $1.89 EPS against an estimate of $1.90, but maintained revenue of $4.03 billion.
• Analysts project a consensus target price of $290.92 for Ecolab’s stock, indicating a favorable outlook in the near term.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b)" rating restated by analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ECL. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $299.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Erste Group Bank began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $290.92.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $277.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $274.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.98. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $286.04. The stock has a market cap of $78.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,208,165.28. This trade represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $847,544,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 119.7% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,036,339 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $548,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,585 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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