How to Buy Ecolab Stock
Ecolab Inc
Ecolab is a specialty chemical company located in Minnesota, United States, which is part of the Basic Materials sector, and is traded under the ticker ECL on the NYSE exchange.
Ecolab stock last closed at $231.51, down 3.02% from the previous day, and has increased 5.56% in one year. It has overperformed other stocks in the Specialty Chemicals industry by 0.2 percentage points. Ecolab stock is currently +6.1% from its 52-week low of $218.19, and -15.41% from its 52-week high of $273.69.
At the moment, there are 283M shares of ECL outstanding. The market capitalization of ECL is $65.52B. In the last 24 hours, 808,410 ECL shares were traded.
How to Buy Ecolab Stock
Not sure how to invest in Ecolab stock? Here's how.
- Choose where to buy Ecolab stock: You need to pick a stock brokerage, but don't worry - we've tried dozens of online stock brokerages and apps to help you decide where to buy Ecolab stock.
- Create a brokerage account: Sign up for 0% fee trading with the highest-rated brokerage we've found.
- Fund your brokerage account: Choose your method of payment and add your information.
- Evaluate Ecolab stock: The Ecolab ticker symbol is ECL. Is Ecolab stock a good investment? Should you buy shares of ECL? How do ECL's underlying business fundamentals look? Do top analysts think Ecolab is a good buy? Why has ECL's stock price moved recently? (Hint: Our stock analysis website can help you figure out if ECL is a good stock to buy).
- Make your ECL trade: Decide if you will purchase ECL shares at the current market price or use a limit order to buy ECL stock at a given price.
- Get the latest scoop on your ECL investment: Create a watchlist to important updates regarding your investment in Ecolab stock.
Step 1: Choose where to buy Ecolab stock
You will need an online brokerage account to access the NYSE market and buy ECL shares.
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Open eToro AccountStep 2: Create a brokerage account
Now that you've picked your brokerage, it's time to fill out some personal info so you can buy ECL stock today.
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Step 3: Fund your brokerage account
Now that you've finished signing up on our top ranked stock trading app, you need to deposit funds:
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Step 4: Evaluate Ecolab stock
After you have selected the best place to buy Ecolab stock, it's critical to research their stock before you buy, so you truly comprehend the risk as well as the upside.
Ecolab shares data
Ecolab Overview
WallStreetZen was created to help average investors do more in-depth fundamental analysis.
You can see all of the due diligence checks on ECL's stock page.
Is ECL stock undervalued?
Investors use a variety of different financial metrics, analyses, models, and charts to gauge ECL's intrinsic value.
Using relative valuations methods:
- ECL could be overvalued based on its P/E ratio of 31.16x, relative to Specialty Chemicals industry P/E ratio of 26.67x
- ECL could be overvalued based on its P/B ratio of 7.48x, relative to Specialty Chemicals industry P/B ratio of 3.07x
- ECL could be overvalued based on its PEG ratio of 4.24x
You can do more valuation analysis on ECL's stock here.
Is ECL a healthy company?
Passed Health Checks:
- ECL's operating cash flow of $2.81B allows it to safely service it's debt of $8.14B.
- ECL earnings of $2.83B is not enough to cover its interest payments.
- ECL profit margin has gone up from 9% to 13.4% in the past year.
- There are more short-term assets than short-term liabilities on the ECL balance sheet.
Failed Health Checks:
- ECL has a relatively high debt to equity ratio of 1.55.
- Total ECL debt is higher than 5 years ago, relative to shareholder equity.
- There are more long-term liabilities than short-term assets on the ECL balance sheet.
Is it a good time to buy Ecolab stock, according to analysts?
Out of 14 sell side analysts who give ratings on ECL, the consensus analyst rating on ECL is a Buy
It's important to keep in mind that analyst forecasts are not recommendations, nor are they financial advice.
Most Recent ECL Analyst Recommendations
Colin Isaac, a bottom 32% analyst from Redburn Atlantic downgrades ECL to a hold rating and announces their ECL price target of $270.00, on Mar 24, 2025.
John McNulty, a bottom 8% analyst from BMO Capital maintains ECL with a buy rating and raises their ECL price target from $295.00 to $305.00, on Mar 3, 2025.
Charles Neivert, a bottom 2% analyst from Piper Sandler maintains ECL with a strong buy rating and raises their ECL price target from $270.00 to $310.00, on Feb 24, 2025.
Joshua Spector, a bottom 3% analyst from UBS maintains ECL with a hold rating and raises their ECL price target from $257.00 to $280.00, on Feb 12, 2025.
Shlomo Rosenbaum, a top 19% analyst from Stifel Nicolaus maintains ECL with a strong buy rating and raises their ECL price target from $285.00 to $307.00, on Feb 12, 2025.
Stifel Nicolaus's Shlomo Rosenbaum raised their price target on Ecolab (NYSE: ECL) by 7.7% from $285 to $307 on 2025/02/12. The analyst maintained their Strong Buy rating on the stock.
Ecolab reported its Q4 and FY 2024 earnings.
Rosenbaum acknowledged the 2% increase in quarterly sales as "a key positive."
However, the analyst argued that "the larger positive" was the company's growing confidence in reaching 20% Adjusted EBIT margins in 2027.
Earnings Report
Ecolab reported:
For Q4 2024:
- EPS of $1.81, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.79 and, by 17%, Q4 2023’s $1.55.
- Revenue of $4.01B, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.77% and, by 2%, Q4 2023’s $3.94B.
For FY 2024:
- EPS of $6.65, up 27.6% Y/Y.
- Revenue of $15.74B, up 3% Y/Y.
Management guided:
For Q1 2025:
- EPS of $1.47 to $1.53.
For FY 2025:
- EPS of $7.42 to $7.62.
Chairman & CEO Christophe Beck commented: “2024 was another exceptional year for Ecolab, with sales, organic operating income margin, free cash flow, and adjusted EPS all reaching record levels.
“This outstanding performance was fueled by the significant total value the Ecolab team and technologies delivered to our customers.
“We also continued to invest in breakthrough innovation, new digital capabilities, and our sales and service expertise.
“These efforts aim to further strengthen Ecolab’s competitive position, enhance our customer value proposition, and create new growth opportunities for the future.
“We enter 2025 confident in our ability to deliver continued strong performance in a dynamic environment.
“Growth in the United States, our largest and most profitable region, continues to be very strong, and growth across the rest of the world is solid as we more than offset uneven macroeconomic trends.
“We expect to continue this good momentum by generating further market share gains through our One Ecolab initiative and accelerating performance in our growth engines, specifically in data centers, microelectronics, life sciences, and Ecolab digital.
“Additionally, we will implement value pricing that reflects the increasing value Ecolab delivers to customers.
“As a result, we expect to deliver attractive organic operating income margin expansion, as our confidence in reaching our 20% margin target over the next three years continues to strengthen.
“Ecolab’s business fundamentals, momentum, and balance sheet are strong, and we remain incredibly focused on generating superior shareholder returns in 2025 and beyond.”
You can dig deeper into what analysts are saying on the Ecolab stock forecast page.
Metrics for Advanced ECL Traders
ECL Growth Numbers
Last year, ECL earnings were $2.11B. During the past five year, ECL's earnings have gone up by 6.55% per year. This was slower than the Specialty Chemicals industry average of 14.94%.
Last year, ECL revenue was $15.74B. During the last five year, ECL's revenue has increased by 4.62% per year. This was faster than the Specialty Chemicals industry average of 4.61%.
Dig into ECL's earnings and revenue performance here.
Are ECL executives and large shareholders buying or selling the stock?
Over the last year, executives and large shareholders at ECL have sold more shares than they have bought.
Shari L. Ballard, Director of ECL, was the latest ECL insider to buy. They bought $33,709.31 worth of ECL stock on Mar 31, 2025.
Get more info about who owns ECL stock here.
Does ECL provide a stable income stream?
Ecolab pays a dividend of 1.05%, compared to the Specialty Chemicals industry's average dividend yield of 2.48%. If you owned $1,000 worth of ECL stock, you would have received $10.54 in the past year.
Ecolab dividend payments have consistently grown over the past decade and have remained stable.
Dig into more info about Ecolab dividend yield and history here.
What do other traders have to say about ECL?
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Step 5: Make your ECL trade
You have two main options:
- Market order: A market order is an order to buy or sell a stock at the best price on the market.
Market orders are usually the best for newer investors. - Limit order: A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security at a specific price (or better).
If you want to ensure you're buying or selling at a given dollar amount, use a limit order.
Press the Open Trade button and eToro will place the order.
If you want additional info about investing in stocks on eToro, click the helpful video below:
Step 6: Get the latest scoop on your ECL investment
Now that you own some ECL stock, you'll want to keep up with your investment.
Create a watchlist to get notified of the latest news about your ECL stock.
ECL Feed
How to Buy Stock in Ecolab
To summarize, here are the 6 steps for buying Ecolab stock:
- Choose where to buy Ecolab stock
- Create a brokerage account
- Fund your brokerage account
- Evaluate Ecolab stock
- Make your ECL trade
- Get the latest scoop on your ECL investment
If you need a place to buy stocks, eToro is our recommended venue.
Get Started with eToro TodayIf you want to get updates on your new investment in Ecolab, click the button below.
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