Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81, Zacks reports. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab updated its FY 2025 guidance to 7.420-7.620 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.470-1.530 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Up 7.9 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $19.38 on Tuesday, reaching $265.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,069,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,168,723. The company has a market capitalization of $75.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $201.99 and a 52 week high of $267.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.97.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.