Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $6.40-6.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $6.41. Ecolab also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.400-6.700 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho raised shares of 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. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an overweight rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Ecolab from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $5.89 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $227.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,035,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,123. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.77. The stock has a market cap of $65.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

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.