William Blair Equities Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – William Blair raised their Q2 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Ecolab in a research note issued on Tuesday, April 30th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now anticipates that the basic materials company will post earnings of $1.63 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.49. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.55 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q3 2024 earnings at $1.76 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.80 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $6.53 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $7.20 EPS.

ECL has been the subject of several other reports. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $227.49 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $224.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $202.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 38,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,561,000 after purchasing an additional 6,078 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $281,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 63.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 168,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,625,000 after purchasing an additional 65,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 5,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $874,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.