Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases Earnings Results, Hits Estimates

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81, Zacks reports. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab updated its FY 2025 guidance to 7.420-7.620 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.470-1.530 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $201.99 and a fifty-two week high of $267.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $242.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.08. The stock has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.