Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) finished Friday with a subtraction of -$0.64 to close at $184.36, a downside of -0.35 percent. An average of 914,940 shares of common stock have been traded in the last five days. There was a gain of $1.83 in the past week, and it reached a new high 14 times over the past 12 months. The last 20 days have seen an average of 1,122,175 shares traded, while the 50-day average volume stands at 1,103,040.
ECL stock has decreased by -1.06% in the last month. The company shares reached their 1-month lowest point of $179.50 on 08/01/23. With the stock rallying to its 52-week high on 07/26/23, shares of the company touched a low of $131.04 and a high of $191.41 in 52 weeks. It has reached a new high 29 times so far this year and achieved 26.66% or $38.80 in price. In spite of this, the price is down -3.68% from the 52-week high.
Insider Transactions
ECL stock investors should be aware that Ecolab Inc. (ECL) stock had its last reported insider trading activity 57 days ago on Aug 07. In this transaction, the insider spent $3,943,736. EVP – CORP STRAT & BUS DEV, Busch Angela M, disposed of 3,460 shares at a price of $182.00 on Jun 14. The insider now owns more than $629,720 worth of shares. Prior to that, Director HIGGINS ARTHUR J went on to Sale 2,400 shares at $181.33 each on Jun 13. An amount of $435,192 was transacted.
Valuation Metrics
Ecolab Inc. (ECL) has a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 44.89. The stock’s beta is 1.01. Other valuation ratios to consider include the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio at 3.54, the price-to-book (PB) ratio at 6.95, and the price-to-cash flow ratio at 72.98.
The company has a payout ratio of 50.40%. The company’s most recent quarterly dividend payment was $0.53 a share, without any change from last year. Its latest increase dividend $0.02 reported on Thursday December 8 2022.
Financial Health
The quick ratio of Ecolab Inc. for the three months ended June 29 was 0.80, and the current ratio was 1.20, indicating that the company is not able to meet its debt obligations. Further, the company has a long term debt to equity ratio of 0.99 and a total debt to equity ratio of 1.14 for the quarter ending June 29. Ecolab Inc.’s EBITDA margin for the year ending June 29 is 17.96%, while its operating margin for the same period stands at 12.00%. Its gross profit as reported stood at $5.36 billion compared to revenue of $14.19 billion.
For investors, determining the potential profitability of the investment also depends on the performance of the company’s management. In the past 12 months, Ecolab Inc.’s return on assets was 5.50%.
Earnings Surprise
For the three-month period that ended June 29, Ecolab Inc. had $7.5 billion in total debt. In the quarter under review, the net income was up than the previous quarter. The company posted a net income of $329.7 million in the quarter, while revenues of $233.4 million were grew 6.49%. The analyst consensus anticipated Ecolab Inc.’s latest quarter earnings to come in at $1.21 per share, but it turned out to be $1.24, a 2.50% surprise. For the quarter, EBITDA amounted to $714.1 million. Shareholders own equity worth $285.03 million.
Technical Picture
From a technical analysis perspective, let’s take a brief look at Ecolab Inc. (ECL) price momentum. RSI 9-day as of the close on 11 August was 48.45%, suggesting the stock is Neutral, with historical volatility in this time frame at 15.28%.
As of today, ECL’s price is $184.48 +1.00% or $1.83 from its 5-day moving average. ECL is currently trading -2.18% lower than its 20-day SMA and +17.96% higher than its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is +11.70% above the SMA50 and +24.21% above the SMA200.
The stochastic %K and %D were 39.63% and 40.76%, respectively, and the average true range (ATR) was 3.25. With the 14-day stochastic at 40.81% and the average true range at 3.25, the RSI (14) stands at 50.09%. The stock has reached 0.17 on the 9-day MACD Oscillator while the 14-day reading was at -0.55.
Analyst Ratings
Northcoast downgraded Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) to a a Neutral rating in its most recent analyst report. Previously, the stock was rated as a Buy. The consensus rating for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) among analysts is Overweight. According to current brokerage recommendations, 0 brokerage firms advise that investors sell ECL, while 15 suggest investors hold. There are 1 analyst who rate the stock as underweight. The stock is rated overweight by 2 analysts, while 8 others rate it as a “buy”.
What is ECL’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts predict a range of price targets between $170.00 and $220.00, with a median target of $200.00. Taking a look at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts for Ecolab Inc. (ECL) stock is $198.10.
