How to buy Ecolab shares

Ecolab Inc (ECL) is a leading specialty chemicals business with stocks listed in the US. It opened the day at US$224 after a previous close of US$223.98. During the day the price has varied from a low of USD220.84 to a high of USD224.62. The latest price was USD221.53 (25 minute delay). Ecolab is listed on the NYSE. All prices are listed in US Dollars.

How to buy shares in Ecolab

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Ecolab. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: ECL. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Ecolab reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$208.81, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Ecolab, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Ecolab. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Ecolab share price

Use our graph to track the performance of ECL stocks over time.

Ecolab shares at a glance

• Live prices
• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-04-22.

Open	US$224
High	US$224.62
Low	US$220.84
Close	US$221.53
Previous close	US$223.98
Change	US$-2.45
Change %	-1.0938%
Volume	870,801

Information last updated 2021-04-15.

52-week range	US$167.0453 - US$229.281
50-day moving average	US$213.164
200-day moving average	US$211.0068
Target price	US$223.79
PE ratio	53.4958
Dividend yield	US$1.89 (0.87%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$5.29

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Ecolab stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Ecolab Inc by TradingView

Ecolab price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $221.53

1 week (2021-04-16)	-0.73%
1 month (2021-03-23)	6.55%
3 months (2021-01-22)	4.30%
6 months (2020-10-23)	8.13%

1 year (2020-04-23)	26.56%
2 years (2019-04-23)	20.14%
3 years (2018-04-23)	48.53%
5 years (2016-04-22)	90.58%

Is Ecolab under- or over-valued?

Valuing Ecolab stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Ecolab's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Ecolab's P/E ratio

Ecolab's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 53x. In other words, Ecolab shares trade at around 53x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Ecolab's PEG ratio

Ecolab's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.7999. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Ecolab's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Ecolab's EBITDA

Ecolab's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$2.5 billion (£1.8 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Ecolab's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Ecolab financials

Revenue TTM	US$11.8 billion
Operating margin TTM	14.28%
Gross profit TTM	US$4.9 billion
Return on assets TTM	5.4%
Return on equity TTM	13.19%
Profit margin	-10.22%
Book value	21.58
Market capitalisation	US$62.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Ecolab shares

There are currently 2.2 million Ecolab shares held short by investors – that's known as Ecolab's "short interest". This figure is 0.2% up from 2.2 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Ecolab shares can be evaluated.

Ecolab's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Ecolab's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Ecolab shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Ecolab shares traded daily (recently around 1.1 million). Ecolab's SIR currently stands at 1.9. In other words for every 100,000 Ecolab shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1900 shares are currently held short.

However Ecolab's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Ecolab shares, or, against the total number of tradable Ecolab shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Ecolab's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Ecolab shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0087% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Ecolab shares, roughly 9 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Ecolab.

Find out more about how you can short Ecolab stock.

Ecolab's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Ecolab.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Ecolab's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 25.82

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Ecolab's overall score of 25.82 (as at 12/31/2018) is nothing to write home about – landing it in it in the 42nd percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Ecolab is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Ecolab's environmental score

Environmental score: 7.58/100

Ecolab's environmental score of 7.58 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Ecolab is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Ecolab's social score

Social score: 7.64/100

Ecolab's social score of 7.64 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Ecolab is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Ecolab's governance score

Governance score: 3.09/100

Ecolab's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Ecolab is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Ecolab's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Ecolab scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Ecolab has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Ecolab Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	25.82
Total ESG percentile	41.75
Environmental score	7.58
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	7.64
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	3.09
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

Ecolab share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 45.67% of net profits

Recently Ecolab has paid out, on average, around 45.67% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.88% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Ecolab shareholders could enjoy a 0.88% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Ecolab's case, that would currently equate to about $1.89 per share.

While Ecolab's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Ecolab may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.

Ecolab's most recent dividend payout was on 14 April 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 14 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Ecolab's shares ever split?

Ecolab's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 8 June 2003. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Ecolab shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Ecolab shares which in turn could have impacted Ecolab's share price.

Ecolab share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Ecolab's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$167.0453 up to US$229.281. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Ecolab's is 0.9912. This would suggest that Ecolab's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Ecolab overview

Ecolab Inc. provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services worldwide. Its 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, and petrochemical industries. The company's Global Institutional & Specialty segment provides specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, government and education, and retail industries. Its Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segment offers specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the healthcare, personal care, and pharmaceutical industries, such as infection prevention and surgical solutions, and end-to-end cleaning and contamination control solutions under the Ecolab, Microtek, and Anios brand names. The company's Other segment offers pest elimination services to detect, eliminate, and prevent pests, such as rodents and insects in restaurants, food and beverage processors, educational and healthcare facilities, hotels, quick service restaurant and grocery operations, and other institutional and commercial customers. This segment also provides colloidal silica for binding and polishing applications in semiconductor, catalyst, and aerospace component manufacturing, as well as chemical industries; and products and services that manage wash process through custom designed programs, premium products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management, and reduction, as well as real time data management. It sells its products through field sales and corporate account personnel, distributors, and dealers. The company was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Ecolab is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.476% of Ecolab shares are held by insiders and 87.662% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Ecolab?

  Ecolab's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Ecolab based?

  Ecolab's address is: 1 Ecolab Place, Saint Paul, MN, United States, 55102-2233

• What is Ecolab's ISIN number?

  Ecolab's international securities identification number is: US2788651006

• What is Ecolab's CUSIP number?

  Ecolab's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 278865100