Seaport Res Ptn Issues Negative Forecast for Ecolab Earnings

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Seaport Res Ptn lowered their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for Ecolab in a report issued on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now forecasts that the basic materials company will earn $1.92 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.95. Seaport Res Ptn currently has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $7.54 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Ecolab’s FY2025 earnings at $7.56 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ECL. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $254.91 on Monday. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $248.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.68.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,231,873,000 after acquiring an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after purchasing an additional 93,409 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.