844 Shares in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Bought by Ascent Group LLC

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC bought 844 shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. in Q2, valued at approximately $395,000.
• Major institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Ulta Beauty, with Pacer Advisors Inc. raising their stake by 5,117%.
• Analysts are optimistic about Ulta Beauty, with price targets raised by firms like Barclays and Morgan Stanley, reflecting a general consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 844 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $449,021,000 after acquiring an additional 688,267 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $334,871,000 after acquiring an additional 410,900 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $341,453,000 after acquiring an additional 366,147 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $80,753,000 after acquiring an additional 216,089 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 237.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 270,420 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $96,674,000 after acquiring an additional 190,353 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ULTA. Barclays raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 target price on Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Ulta Beauty in a report on Thursday, September 4th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $590.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $544.20.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.8%

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $556.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $525.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $460.62. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $567.99. The stock has a market cap of $24.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.30 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States. The company offers branded and private label beauty products, including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools through its Ulta Beauty stores, shop-in-shops, Ulta.com website, and its mobile applications.

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