Comerica Bank Purchases 19,530 Shares of UL Solutions Inc. $ULS

Key Points

• Comerica Bank raised its UL Solutions stake by 18.7%, purchasing 19,530 shares to hold 124,164 shares worth about $9.79 million (roughly 0.06% of the company) at quarter-end.
• Major institutions including Capital International, Vanguard (added ~1.21M shares), Capital Research, Bessemer and Allspring materially increased their ULS positions, indicating broad institutional accumulation.
• CEO Jennifer F. Scanlon sold 12,500 shares at $85.50 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan (a 5.86% reduction), while UL posted an EPS beat, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.145, and carries a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $88.42 price target.

Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS - Free Report) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,164 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,530 shares during the period. Comerica Bank owned approximately 0.06% of UL Solutions worth $9,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 10.8% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,548,311 shares of the company's stock worth $534,738,000 after acquiring an additional 738,720 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,740,636 shares of the company's stock worth $531,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,188 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 20.6% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,942,905 shares of the company's stock worth $279,394,000 after acquiring an additional 674,088 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UL Solutions by 13.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,151,390 shares of the company's stock worth $152,448,000 after acquiring an additional 261,603 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 167,564 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UL Solutions news, CEO Jennifer F. Scanlon sold 12,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.50, for a total transaction 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 $17,166,177. The trade was a 5.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ULS. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of UL Solutions in a report on Friday, February 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on UL Solutions from $97.00 to $96.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research upgraded UL Solutions from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of UL Solutions in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of UL Solutions from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.42.

UL Solutions Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE ULS opened at $88.17 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. UL Solutions Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.38 and a 1-year high of $94.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.06 and a 200-day moving average of $81.09. The company has a market cap of $17.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.45, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.77.

UL Solutions (NYSE:ULS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.07. UL Solutions had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 31.62%. The company had revenue of $789.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.37 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that UL Solutions Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UL Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.145 per share. This is an increase from UL Solutions's previous quarterly dividend of $0.13. This represents a $0.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. UL Solutions's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.48%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ULS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.