D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Acquires 7,294 Shares of UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in UL Solutions Inc. (NYSE:ULS - Free Report) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,863 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,294 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in UL Solutions were worth $2,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of UL Solutions by 7.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $278,016,000 after buying an additional 401,492 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 valued at $222,658,000 after buying an additional 1,022,851 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of UL Solutions by 88.8% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,224,709 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,729,000 after buying an additional 1,987,295 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of UL Solutions by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,178,072 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,402,000 after buying an additional 612,834 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ULS shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $60.50) on shares of UL Solutions in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James upped their price target on UL Solutions from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on UL Solutions from $58.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on UL Solutions from $65.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on UL Solutions from $60.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UL Solutions has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $69.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Gitte Schjotz sold 7,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 46,889 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,162,194.16. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Alberto Uggetti sold 1,938 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total value of $102,714.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,105. This trade represents a 17.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $712,064 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UL Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ULS traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $71.70. 419,565 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 758,150. UL Solutions Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.87 and a 12-month high of $72.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $14.35 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.26. The business's fifty day moving average price is $60.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.05.

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

UL Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. UL Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.14%.

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.