Aberdeen Group plc Has $16.59 Million Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Aberdeen Group plc raised its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,454 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.08% of Ulta Beauty worth $16,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of 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. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of 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. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $298,231,000 after acquiring an additional 79,666 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.4% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $254,985,000 after acquiring an additional 80,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $541.01 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $572.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $529.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $467.02.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Argus raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $570.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $549.33.

Ulta Beauty 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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