Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues Q2 2024 Earnings Guidance

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

Ecolab Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $5.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $226.88. The stock had a trading volume of 849,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,201,768. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $224.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.77. 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 $64.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued 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 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target 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.