Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Ecolab from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of ECL traded up $5.89 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $227.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,035,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,123. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $224.02 and its 200-day moving average is $201.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.