Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 6.400-6.700 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 6.390. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its FY24 guidance to $6.40-6.70 EPS.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $227.49. 1,068,171 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,213,130. Ecolab has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $231.86. The firm 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. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $224.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $202.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and increased their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $233.65.

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.