What is William Blair’s Estimate for Ecolab FY2024 Earnings?

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – William Blair boosted their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for Ecolab in a report released on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now forecasts that the basic materials company will post earnings per share of $6.65 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $6.60. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.65 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab’s FY2025 earnings at $7.41 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.11 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $245.70 on Thursday. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $159.15 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market capitalization of $69.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $252.69 and a 200-day moving average of $241.61.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $215,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 43,372 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,074,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,005,000 after buying an additional 16,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 8,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,066,000 after buying an additional 1,682 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% 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.