Ecolab (ECL) to Release Earnings on Tuesday

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) is scheduled to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 30th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.33 per share for the quarter. Investors interested in listening to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Ecolab to post $6 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $221.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.21 billion, a PE ratio of 46.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.16. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. 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 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.