Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stake Boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 81.7% during Q1, acquiring 410,900 shares to hold a total of 913,600 shares, valued at approximately $334.87 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on Ulta Beauty, with one downgrading the stock to a "hold" while others have varying target prices, resulting in a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $473.00.
• Ulta Beauty reported earnings of $6.70 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and showing a 4.5% year-over-year revenue increase to $2.85 billion.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 81.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 410,900 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.02% of Ulta Beauty worth $334,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 218.5% in the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 86 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.4% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 96 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of ULTA traded down $6.53 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $526.18. 692,028 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 568,971. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $486.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $416.90. The company has a market cap of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.12. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $534.10.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.47 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $315.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ulta Beauty from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 price objective on Ulta Beauty and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $473.00.

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.