Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) Releases Q1 2025 Earnings Guidance

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) issued an update on its first quarter 2025 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 1.470-1.530 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 1.490. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Ecolab also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 7.420-7.620 EPS.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $245.50 on Tuesday. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $201.99 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $69.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $241.86 and a 200-day moving average of $245.96.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.