Fifth Third Bancorp Has $62.35 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 37.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 234,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,265 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned approximately 0.08% of Ecolab worth $62,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 1,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 22.0% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 211 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $192,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Benjamin M. Clark acquired 1,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $263.83 per share, with a total value of $263,830.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 1,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,727.89. The trade was a 1,204.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Darrell R. Brown sold 10,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.89, for a total transaction of $2,608,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 32,733 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,539,712.37. This trade represents a 23.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 10,550 shares of company stock worth $2,719,508. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $295.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $293.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $337.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.29.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.1%

Ecolab stock opened at $274.60 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $263.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $272.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.15 and a 12 month high of $309.27. The stock has a market cap of $77.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.89.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The basic materials company reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.70. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.64% and a net margin of 12.80%.Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.50 EPS. Ecolab has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.430-8.630 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.120 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.15 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 39.51%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.