William Blair Issues Optimistic Estimate for Ecolab Earnings

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Equities researchers at William Blair raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for Ecolab in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now expects that the basic materials company will earn $6.65 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $6.60. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.65 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab’s FY2025 earnings at $7.41 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.11 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $252.60 on Thursday. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $159.15 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $71.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.38, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.58.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $1,194,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.6% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,653,000 after purchasing an additional 24,910 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.