Ecolab (ECL) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) will be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, April 30th. Analysts expect Ecolab to post earnings of $1.33 per share for the quarter. Individual interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. On average, analysts expect Ecolab to post $6 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $219.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.79, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $199.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

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.