Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Posts Earnings Results, Meets Expectations

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 22.72%.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ECL stock opened at $288.75 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $243.15 and a 1 year high of $309.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $280.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $275.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.76, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.87.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total transaction of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ecolab from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. Zacks Research raised Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $275.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $337.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $324.50.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.