Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided EPS guidance of 6.600-6.700 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 6.640. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its Q4 guidance to $1.75-1.85 EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $245.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 273,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,084,302. Ecolab has a fifty-two week low of $167.30 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.78 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.