UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of UL Solutions from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of UL Solutions from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of UL Solutions from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of UL Solutions from $88.10 to $87.80 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on UL Solutions from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.60.

UL Solutions Stock Down 0.9%

ULS stock opened at $89.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.92. UL Solutions has a 1-year low of $52.40 and a 1-year high of $91.95.

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $789.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.37 million. UL Solutions had a return on equity of 31.62% and a net margin of 10.61%.The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. Analysts expect that UL Solutions will post 1.69 EPS for the current year.

UL Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.145 dividend. This is a boost from UL Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. UL Solutions’s payout ratio is 36.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jennifer F. Scanlon sold 12,500 shares of UL Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.50, for a total value of $1,068,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 200,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,166,177. The trade was a 5.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UL Solutions

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ULS. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of UL Solutions by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,043,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $634,616,000 after purchasing an additional 495,424 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in UL Solutions by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,740,636 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,567,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,188 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in UL Solutions by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,878,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $463,618,000 after buying an additional 545,528 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in UL Solutions by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,942,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,394,000 after buying an additional 674,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of UL Solutions by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,024,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $238,538,000 after buying an additional 54,910 shares during the period.

About UL Solutions

UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS) is a global safety science company that provides testing, inspection, certification, advisory and digital solutions designed to help organizations manage risk, ensure regulatory compliance and drive innovation. With roots dating back to 1894 when it was founded as Underwriters’ Electrical Bureau, the company rebranded as UL Solutions following its initial public offering in 2022. Headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, UL Solutions operates independently to serve a broad range of industries with an emphasis on product safety, performance and sustainability.

The company’s core services include standards development, product testing and certification for sectors such as building products, consumer electronics, automotive, life sciences, energy and industrial equipment.