Fifth Third Bancorp Has $39.46 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 198,932 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,958 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $39,458,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Robbins Farley bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $230.90. The stock had a trading volume of 820,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,215,010. The business’s fifty day moving average is $216.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $66.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $222.19.

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.