Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Issues FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 7.420-7.620 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 7.450. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.470-1.530 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab has a 12 month low of $201.99 and a 12 month high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.