Vest Financial LLC Invests $881,000 in UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS)

Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,623 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $881,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UL Solutions during the 4th quarter worth about $173,869,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in UL Solutions by 88.8% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,224,709 shares of the company's stock worth $210,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,987,295 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,022,851 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in UL Solutions by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,691,957 shares of the company's stock valued at $583,324,000 after purchasing an additional 809,779 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of UL Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,091,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on UL Solutions from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of UL Solutions from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of UL Solutions from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $71.00 target price (up previously from $60.50) on shares of UL Solutions in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of UL Solutions from $60.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.43.

Insider Activity at UL Solutions

In other news, EVP Alberto Uggetti sold 1,961 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $649,950. This represents a 17.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Gitte Schjotz sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.44, for a total transaction of $472,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 46,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,162,194.16. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.20% of the company's stock.

UL Solutions Price Performance

ULS traded down $0.23 on Thursday, hitting $70.22. 419,262 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 763,498. UL Solutions Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.50 and a fifty-two week high of $72.81. The stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.35 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.19 million. UL Solutions had a net margin of 11.36% and a return on equity of 44.52%. UL Solutions's revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UL Solutions Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

UL Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. UL Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.14%.

About UL Solutions

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.