Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases Earnings Results

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share.

Ecolab Trading Down 7.7 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $228.86 on Wednesday. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $249.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.51. The company has a market capitalization of $65.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.38, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ECL. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.44.

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.