Erste Group Bank Brokers Lower Earnings Estimates for Ecolab

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Erste Group Bank reduced their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Ecolab in a research note issued on Friday, June 5th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now expects that the basic materials company will earn $8.30 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $8.40. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $8.48 per share. Erste Group Bank also issued estimates for Ecolab’s FY2027 earnings at $9.56 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.70. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.64% and a net margin of 12.80%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. Ecolab has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.430-8.630 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS.

ECL has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho set a $335.00 price objective on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $296.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Ecolab from $352.00 to $345.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Berenberg Bank upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $326.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $293.00 to $325.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.41.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.9%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $256.72 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $72.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.33. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $243.15 and a fifty-two week high of $309.27.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,870,000 after acquiring an additional 6,238 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 330,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,670,000 after acquiring an additional 68,062 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 48,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,240,000 after acquiring an additional 3,464 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 163,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,464,000 after acquiring an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 83,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,834,000 after acquiring an additional 13,840 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Darrell R. Brown sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.89, for a total transaction of $2,608,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 32,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,539,712.37. This represents a 23.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Suzanne M. Vautrinot sold 1,004 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.98, for a total value of $266,039.92. Following the sale, the director directly owned 11,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,087,281.98. This represents a 7.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.51%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.