FY2024 EPS Estimates for Ecolab Decreased by Seaport Res Ptn

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Investment analysts at Seaport Res Ptn lowered their FY2024 earnings estimates for Ecolab in a research note issued on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings of $6.64 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $6.65. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.62 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q4 2024 earnings at $1.79 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.90 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.02 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.03 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $7.45 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 EPS.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $242.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.60. Ecolab has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 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.