UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ULS. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on shares of UL Solutions in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on UL Solutions from $102.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $100.00 price objective on UL Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings raised UL Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded UL Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.54.

UL Solutions Stock Up 5.5%

Shares of NYSE ULS opened at $90.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.72, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. UL Solutions has a 12 month low of $61.64 and a 12 month high of $107.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.01.

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $758.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.50 million. UL Solutions had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 30.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that UL Solutions will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UL Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.145 per share. This represents a $0.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. UL Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.92%.

Insider Activity

In other UL Solutions news, insider Gitte Schjotz sold 12,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.71, for a total transaction of $1,198,015.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 69,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,900,530.26. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jennifer F. Scanlon sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.22, for a total transaction of $1,240,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 164,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,294,305.28. This represents a 7.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,705 shares of company stock worth $6,460,300. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of UL Solutions

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in UL Solutions by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,550,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,484,000 after purchasing an additional 167,564 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in UL Solutions by 543.1% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 192,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,213,000 after buying an additional 162,915 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in UL Solutions by 78.6% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 103,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,149,000 after buying an additional 45,467 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,282,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,174,000 after buying an additional 230,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 9,024.5% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 337,881 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,645,000 after buying an additional 334,178 shares in the last quarter.

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.