Q1 Earnings Forecast for Ecolab Issued By Seaport Res Ptn

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) – Equities researchers at Seaport Res Ptn issued their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for shares of Ecolab in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 12th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst M. Harrison forecasts that the basic materials company will post earnings per share of $1.76 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Ecolab’s current full-year earnings is $6.64 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Ecolab’s Q2 2026 earnings at $2.17 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.29 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $2.27 EPS.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $265.74 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $75.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.20. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $267.56.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 22,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,259,000 after acquiring an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 18,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,356,000 after buying an additional 9,772 shares during the period. Mirova grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirova now owns 164,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,559,000 after buying an additional 9,913 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,214 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,858,000 after buying an additional 559 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Natixis now owns 47,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,054,000 after buying an additional 2,567 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders sold 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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 paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.