UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $73.00. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. UL Solutions traded as high as $71.89 and last traded at $69.98, with a volume of 2097643 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $67.33.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of UL Solutions from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of UL Solutions from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on UL Solutions from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on UL Solutions from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on UL Solutions from $60.00 to $60.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.93.

Insider Transactions at UL Solutions

In other UL Solutions news, insider Gitte Schjotz sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.44, for a total value of $472,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,889 shares in the company, valued at $3,162,194.16. The trade was a 12.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Alberto Uggetti sold 1,961 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $137,270.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,285 shares in the company, valued at $649,950. This represents a 17.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $712,064 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UL Solutions

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULS. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of UL Solutions by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,691,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,324,000 after buying an additional 809,779 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of UL Solutions by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,573,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,016,000 after acquiring an additional 401,492 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of UL Solutions by 29.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,516,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022,851 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 88.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,224,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,729,000 after acquiring an additional 1,987,295 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of UL Solutions by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,178,072 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,402,000 after purchasing an additional 612,834 shares in the last quarter.

UL Solutions Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.12 and a 200-day moving average of $53.67. The company has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion and a P/E ratio of 43.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a current ratio of 1.31.

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.05. UL Solutions had a return on equity of 44.52% and a net margin of 11.36%. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $704.19 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that UL Solutions Inc. will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UL Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. This is an increase from UL Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. UL Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.10%.

UL Solutions Company Profile

UL Solutions Inc provides safety science services worldwide. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Consumer, and Software and Advisory. The Industrial segment provides testing, inspection, and certification services across various end markets, including energy, industrial automation, engineered materials, and built environment, as well as stakeholders, such as manufacturers, building owners, end users, and regulators.