Ecolab (ECL) Expected to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) is expected to be releasing its earnings data before the market opens on Tuesday, February 11th. Analysts expect Ecolab to post earnings of $1.81 per share and revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter. Individual that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $247.39 on Monday. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $200.50 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $241.86 and its 200-day moving average is $245.95.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.