Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Updates FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 7.420-7.620 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 7.450. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.470-1.530 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $262.36 on Thursday. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $212.71 and a 12 month high of $267.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $242.33 and a 200-day moving average of $246.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $74.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.