Nordea Investment Management AB Increases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 2.1%, acquiring a total of 41,694 shares valued at approximately $19.4 million as of the end of the 2nd quarter.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Ulta Beauty, with Oppenheimer and Barclays setting new targets of $600 and $617, respectively, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• Ulta Beauty reported a strong earnings performance with an EPS of $5.78, exceeding estimates and showing a 9.3% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,694 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 868 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.09% of Ulta Beauty worth $19,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,210 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 110.3% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,926 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $3,638,000 after purchasing an additional 5,207 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,179 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 7,285 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,670,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 49.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 148 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ULTA. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $550.38.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $533.51 on Monday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $572.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $531.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $471.12. The company has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

About Ulta Beauty

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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