William Blair Has Negative Estimate for Ecolab Q3 Earnings

Key Points

• William Blair analysts have lowered their Q3 2025 earnings per share estimate for Ecolab from $2.09 to $2.04, while the full-year consensus estimate stands at $7.54 per share.
• Investors should note that Ecolab has received multiple rating changes, with the majority of analysts rating it as a "buy" and an average target price of $289.47.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.99% and a payout ratio of 35.33%.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at William Blair lowered their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for Ecolab in a report released on Tuesday, July 29th. William Blair analyst T. Mulrooney now expects that the basic materials company will post earnings per share of $2.04 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.09. The consensus estimate for Ecolab's current full-year earnings is $7.54 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Ecolab's Q1 2026 earnings at $1.68 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.11 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.29 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $2.35 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1%

NYSE:ECL traded up $2.82 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $263.83. The stock had a trading volume of 259,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,324,788. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Ecolab has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $274.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.73. The company has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the second quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $807,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.5% in the second quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management now owns 7,534 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,030,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.8% in the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.71%.

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.