March 2026 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks. Includes an article with a terrific ranking of companies by their ethical standards.

Transcript & Links, Episode 165, March 27, 2026

Hello, Ron Robins here. Welcome to my podcast episode 165, published on March 27, 2026, titled “March 2026 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks.”

This podcast is presented by Investing for the Soul. Investingforthesoul.com is your go-to site for vital global, ethical, and sustainable investing mentoring, news, commentary, information, and resources.

Remember that you can find a full transcript and links to content, including stock symbols and bonus material, on this episode’s podcast page at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts.

Also, a reminder. I do not evaluate any of the stocks or funds mentioned in these podcasts, and I don’t receive any compensation from anyone covered in these podcasts. Furthermore, I will reveal any investments I have in the investments mentioned herein.

I have a great crop of 18 articles for you in this podcast! Note: Some companies are covered more than once. Now with so many articles to potentially cover, I’ve chosen 3 to quote from. The other 15 can be found on the webpage for this podcast edition, along with their titles and links.

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The Best 3 Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy and Hold for Decades from fool.com

In this episode, I begin with an article on an investment sector at the core of most ethical and sustainable investors’ portfolios: renewable energy. The article’s title is The Best 3 Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy and Hold for Decades from fool.com. It’s by Reuben Gregg Brewer. Here are some quotes on each of his picks.

“1) Brookfield Renewable is 100% clean (BEP)(BEPC)

Brookfield Renewable has exposure to hydroelectric, solar, wind, battery storage, and nuclear power… The assets… are spread across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. If you are looking for a simple way to participate in the shift toward clean energy, Brookfield Renewable is a good choice…

The one wrinkle is that you can buy Brookfield Renewable in two different ways. The partnership share class offers a distribution yield of 5.2% while the corporate share class has a dividend yield of 3.8%. They represent the same business and have the same dividend payment; the difference is that the corporate shares are in higher demand among institutional investors. Small investors should feel comfortable with the partnership.

2) NextEra Energy is a giant in two businesses (NEE)

NextEra Energy operates one of the largest regulated electric utilities in the United States. That is the foundation on which it has built one of the largest solar and wind power businesses in the world. This combination has led to 11% annualized dividend growth over the past decade. Half that rate of dividend growth would be considered good for a utility. NextEra Energy’s dividend yield is 2.7%, which is actually above the utility average of nearly 2.5%…

That said, management is calling for dividend growth to slow to a still very healthy 6% in 2027 and 2028.

3) TotalEnergies mixes the old with the new (TTE)

TotalEnergies will be the hardest sell as a clean energy investment because it is an integrated energy giant. That means that it is a vertically integrated oil and natural gas business. If you only want clean energy, you probably won’t want to buy TotalEnergies.”

End quotes.

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11 Best Ethical Companies to Invest In Now According to Reddit from insidermonkey.com

My second article has some unusual investing options for many investors coming to my podcasts. It’s titled 11 Best Ethical Companies to Invest In Now According to Reddit from insidermonkey.com and is by Noor Ul Ain Rehman. Here are some quotes from the article.

“We first sifted through relevant threads on Reddit to compile a list of the best ethical companies and then selected the top 11 that were the most popular among elite hedge funds as of Q3 2025. We sourced the hedge fund data from Insider Monkey’s database. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment…

All data was recorded on March 17…

​Our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds.

11. The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY)

Morgan Stanley lifted the price target on The Hershey Company to $247 from $238 on March 16, maintaining an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm told investors that it believes the market is overly focused on pricing rollback risk and is underestimating the earnings recovery from cocoa normalization beginning in the second half of 2026 and accelerating into 2027.

10. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ:CTSH)

On March 16, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation announced the launch of Cognizant AI Factory, which is a multi-tenant, enterprise-grade offering powered by Dell Technologies (DELL) and NVIDIA AI (NVDA) infrastructure and software platform. Management stated that the Cognizant AI Factory is designed to help organizations scale artificial intelligence more securely, efficiently, and responsibly, and aims at unifying the management of the AI lifecycle in a single environment.

9. Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NASDAQ:KMB)

Piper Sandler cut the price target on Kimberly-Clark to $114 from $133 on March 13 and maintained an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm told investors that the company’s Q1 top-line momentum is tracking in line with what it had expected, with costs hedged roughly nine months out, securing roughly the balance of 2026. However, Piper also stated that if increased oil costs persist, there could be a risk to the outlook for 2027…

Kimberly-Clark sells its products under various brands, including Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, DryNites, Huggies, and others.

8. Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

March 16, Ecolab was upgraded to Buy from Hold by Berenberg, with the firm adjusting the price target on the stock to $326 from $300. Berenberg told investors in a research note that (Ecolab) will raise prices across all products, services, and geographies by 10%-14%, adding that it anticipates the price increases to be implemented swiftly and become a ‘sticky component of Ecolab’s structural pricing, rather than being rolled back’. The firm views Ecolab as a net inflation beneficiary…

Ecolab offers hygiene, water, and infection prevention solutions and services.

7. FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX)

On March 10, JPMorgan lifted the price target on FedEx to $424 from $294 while maintaining a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm told investors that it updated the company’s model ahead of the earnings report.

6. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

TD Cowen cut the price target on Accenture to $275 from $282 on March 16, maintaining a Buy rating on the shares. The firm told investors that it updated its model ahead of the fiscal Q2 results, saying that, considering raised macro uncertainty and no clear end in sight with the Iran conflict, it believes that it is now reasonable that Accenture could just leave its FY26 growth guide as is…

Accenture is a global professional services company that combines technology and leadership in data, cloud, and AI with functional expertise, industry experience, and global delivery capability.

5. Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM)

March 16, Salesforce, announced the commencement of the prepayment and initial delivery of around 103 million shares under its previously announced $25 billion accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreements. The company entered into these agreements on March 11, 2026, with certain financial institutions. Management stated that the transaction marks the largest accelerated share repurchase in history, and represents the immediate execution of half of the $50 billion aggregate Share Repurchase Program authorized by Salesforce’s Board of Directors in February 2026.

Salesforce, designs and develops cloud-based enterprise software for customer relationship management.

4. ServiceNow, Inc. (NYSE:NOW)

ServiceNow, was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral by BNP Paribas on March 16, with the firm setting a $140 price target. The rating update came the same day ServiceNow, announced an expansion of its partnership with Carahsoft Technology Corp. to extend availability to the ServiceNow AI Platform across Carahsoft’s full reseller ecosystem in the U.S. and Canada…

ServiceNow, offers an AI platform for business transformation, boosting productivity and maximizing business outcomes.

3. Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU)

On March 16, TD Cowen lifted the price target on Micron Technology, to $500 from $450 and maintained a Buy rating on the shares. The firm told investors that it updated its model ahead of the company’s fiscal Q2 earnings, where a strong beat is expected. TD Cowen also said that while it continues to see upside to the buy-side view even after earnings, the majority of the long-term stock returns could be driven by re-rating…

Micron Technology, provides innovative memory and storage solutions.

2. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)

Eli Lilly was downgraded to Reduce from Hold by HSBC on March 17, with the firm bringing the price target on the stock down to $850 from $1,070. The firm told investors in a research note that it believes expectations for the total addressable market for obesity are elevated at over $150 billion, and the market is likely to be in the range of $80 billion -$120 billion by 2032, with price competition ‘likely to be significant’.

Eli Lilly develops, manufactures, discovers, and sells pharmaceutical products.

1. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)

Mastercard announced on March 17 a definitive agreement for the acquisition of BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments. BVNK is a leader in stablecoin infrastructure. Management stated that the deal expands the company’s end-to-end support of digital assets and value movement across currencies, rails, and regions…

Mastercard is a technology company that provides payment solutions for developing and implementing debit, credit, prepaid, commercial, and payment programs via its brands.”

End quotes.

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Ethisphere Announces the 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies®; 2026 Ethics Premium™ Shows Honorees Outperformed Peers by 8.2 Percentage Points, from morningstar.com

The last article I’m covering presents a highly respected ranking of companies according to a wide range of ethical criteria. The article’s title is Ethisphere Announces the 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies®; 2026 Ethics Premium™ Shows Honorees Outperformed Peers by 8.2 Percentage Points, from morningstar.com. The article is from Business Wire. Here are some quotes from the introduction to the article.

“Ethisphere today announced the 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies®, recognizing 138 companies for having best-in-class ethics and compliance programs, corporate governance practices, and cultures of integrity.

Alongside the honoree announcement, Ethisphere released the Ethics Premium™, a five-year analysis comparing the stock performance of publicly traded 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies honorees with a broad global benchmark. From Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2025, this year’s publicly traded honorees outperformed the benchmark by 8.2 percentage points.

2026 marks the 20th annual recognition of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, which includes companies across 40 industries in 17 countries. This year’s honorees are listed at www.worldsmostethicalcompanies.com.

2026 cohort highlights

This year’s cohort includes… six 20-time honorees, companies that have earned the designation every year since the recognition began.

(The) six 20-time honorees:

• Aflac, Inc. (AFL)
• Ecolab (ECL)
• International Paper Company (IP)
• Kao Corporation (4452.T)
• Milliken & Company (Private company)
• PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)

End quotes.

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More articles from around the world with Sustainable Investment Picks for March 2026.

1. Title: BlackRock Says Buy AI Energy Stocks Over Big Tech in 2026. Here Are 3 Top Picks from finance.yahoo.com. By James Brumley, The Motley Fool.

2. Title: How big business is rewriting the U.S. sustainability story from corporateknights.com. Introduction by Tristan Bronca and CK Staff.

3. Title: Best Renewable Energy Stocks To Watch Now from marketbeat.com. By MarketBeat.

4. Title: Billionaires David Tepper and Michael Platt Divested Nvidia Holdings and Acquired This AI Stock That Has Surged 40,000% Since Its Market Debut from bitget.com. By 101 finance.

5. Title: After 345% Run, This Solar Power Stock Heats Up As Oil Tops $102 from investors.com. By Juan Carlos Arancibia.

6. Title: socially responsible investment opportunities in renewable energy from financelipa.com. By Houssem Belhaj.

7. Title: British Land Company PLC (BLND.L) Stock Analysis: Evaluating A 20% Potential Upside Amid Robust Revenue Growth from directorstalkinterviews.com. By Olivia Thompson.

8. Title: Prediction: This Overlooked AI Infrastructure Stock Could Double in 2026. Here’s Why from fool.com. By Harsh Chauhan.

9. Title: Asia Pacific’s green champions step into the spotlight from corporateknights.com. By Gordon Feller.

10. Title: Three Green Energy Stocks to Buy from intellectia.ai. By Emily J. Thompson.

11. Title: Brookfield Asset Mgmt stock faces analyst scrutiny amid volatile asset management sector shifts from ad-hoc-news.de. By ad-hoc-news.de.

12. Title: The Best 3 Renewable Energy Stocks to Buy and Hold for Decades from fool.com. By Matt DiLallo.

13. Title: These top European firms are stepping up their sustainable growth from corporateknights.com. By Ashley Perl.

14. Title: The most innovative companies in corporate social responsibility in 2026 from fastcompany.com. By Anna-Louise Jackson.

15. Title: 5 Best Sustainable Investing Funds in 2026 from moneymagpie.com. By Ruby Layram.

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Ending Comment

These are my top news stories with their stock and fund tips for this podcast, “March 2026 Sustainable Stock and ETF Picks.”

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My next podcast will be on April 24^th.

See you then. Bye for now.

© 2025 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul