Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 10,511 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fifth Third Bancorp lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,453 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,511 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.06% of Ecolab worth $41,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after buying an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after acquiring an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $242.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $68.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.28 and a 200-day moving average of $245.60.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.