William Blair Weighs in on Ecolab’s Q4 Earnings (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Analysts at William Blair lifted their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Ecolab in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings of $1.81 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $1.79. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.65 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q1 2025 earnings at $1.49 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.86 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.03 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $2.02 EPS.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $244.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $252.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $241.79. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $167.30 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $69.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 38,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,751,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth $709,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,834,000 after buying an additional 892 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.