Seaport Res Ptn Analysts Lift Earnings Estimates for Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Equities researchers at Seaport Res Ptn upped their Q2 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ecolab in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, May 6th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings per share of $1.64 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.59. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.58 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.80 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $6.53 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.59 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.05 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $7.50 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $233.58 on Wednesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $234.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.71. The stock has a market cap of $66.70 billion, a PE ratio of 43.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.