Ecolab (ECL) Projected to Post Quarterly Earnings on Tuesday

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) will likely be issuing its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Tuesday, February 11th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.81 per share and revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter. Investors that wish to register for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $249.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.72 and a 200 day moving average of $245.81. Ecolab has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total value of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

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.