Ecolab (ECL) to Release Earnings on Tuesday

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

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

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $221.10 on Friday. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $223.89 and a 200-day moving average of $201.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid 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 dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

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.