Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Sold by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 17.6%, selling 2,648 shares and now holds 12,356 shares valued at approximately $4.53 million.
• Despite the reduction by Advisors, other investment firms have taken positions in Ulta Beauty, with 90.39% of the stock currently held by institutional investors.
• Ulta Beauty reported earnings of $5.78 per share, surpassing analyst expectations and showing a 9.3% revenue increase year-over-year, resulting in total revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 17.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,356 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 2,648 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $4,529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the 1st 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. lifted 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $298,231,000 after purchasing an additional 79,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 655,561 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $285,123,000 after buying an additional 9,291 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $14.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $514.86. 880,236 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 902,338. The company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.06. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $539.00. The company's fifty day moving average price is $504.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $432.56.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULTA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $364.00 to $386.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $543.13.

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.