Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 6.500-6.700 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 6.570. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its FY24 guidance to $6.50-6.70 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $15.07 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $232.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 487,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,135,111. The company has a 50-day moving average of $239.78 and a 200-day moving average of $226.30. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $249.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $66.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an overweight rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $244.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.