Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $224.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $64.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $224.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.37. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors 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 yield of 1.01%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.65.

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.