Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues Earnings Results

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $17.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $263.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,155,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,119. The company has a market cap of $74.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.04, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $241.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.97. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $201.99 and a 1-year high of $267.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 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.