Ecolab (ECL) Expected to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) will likely be announcing its Q1 2025 earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 29th. Analysts expect Ecolab to post earnings of $1.51 per share and revenue of $3.71 billion for the quarter. Ecolab has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.420-7.620 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance at 1.470-1.530 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, analysts expect Ecolab to post $8 EPS for the current fiscal year and $9 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $238.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $250.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.01. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $219.97 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $67.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Ecolab stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 164.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $867,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.33.

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.