Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Estimates

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81, Zacks reports. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. 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

Shares of ECL opened at $262.36 on Thursday. Ecolab has a one year low of $212.71 and a one year high of $267.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $242.06 and a 200-day moving average of $246.08.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 0.99%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.