Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

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

Ecolab Trading Up 4.1 %

ECL stock opened at $240.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $239.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $226.63. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $249.00. The stock has a market cap of $68.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab will post 6.61 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $249.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.