Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases Q2 2024 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) updated its second quarter 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.620-1.720 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 1.540. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 6.400-6.700 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $221.67 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $63.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.77.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Ecolab from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $230.47.

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.