Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.62-1.72 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.54. Ecolab also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.400-6.700 EPS.

Ecolab Trading Up 2.7 %

ECL traded up $5.89 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $227.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,035,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,123. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $224.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.77. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86. The stock has a market cap of $65.06 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and upped their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $230.47.

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.