William Blair Issues Optimistic Estimate for Ecolab Earnings

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Equities researchers at William Blair raised their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Ecolab in a report issued on Tuesday, February 11th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings of $1.50 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.49. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.64 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q3 2025 earnings at $2.10 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.06 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $7.49 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.40 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%.

ECL has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.4 %

Ecolab stock opened at $265.74 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $267.56. The company has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $242.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.20.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 377,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,366,000 after buying an additional 64,594 shares during the period. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 152.3% during the fourth quarter. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $810,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 783,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $183,703,000 after purchasing an additional 14,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,072 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

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.