Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.0 %

Ecolab stock opened at $226.15 on Wednesday. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $224.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.21, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $231.12.

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.