Allianz Asset Management GmbH Trims Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Allianz Asset Management GmbH decreased its position in Ulta Beauty by 35.8%, selling 3,828 shares, and now holds 6,876 shares valued at approximately $3.2 million.
• In contrast, other institutional investors like Price T Rowe Associates and JPMorgan Chase & Co. significantly increased their stakes in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter, showing strong interest in the company's growth.
• Ulta Beauty reported robust second-quarter earnings of $5.78 per share, exceeding estimates and marking a 9.3% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.79 billion.

Allianz Asset Management GmbH trimmed its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 35.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,876 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 3,828 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $3,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 worth $449,021,000 after buying an additional 688,267 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $341,453,000 after buying an additional 366,147 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 79,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $254,985,000 after buying an additional 80,734 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $517.66 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $531.50 and a 200-day moving average of $475.52. The company has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $572.23.

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. The company 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 company's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm'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 sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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