Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $6.50-6.70 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $6.59. Ecolab also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.500-6.700 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $247.92 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $239.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.30. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $249.00. The firm has a market cap of $70.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $244.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by 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.