Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. substantially reduced its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 61.4%, ending the quarter with 2,660 shares valued at $975,000.
• In contrast, several other institutional investors such as Price T Rowe Associates and JPMorgan Chase increased their stakes in Ulta Beauty, highlighting ongoing investor interest.
• Analyst ratings for Ulta Beauty show a consensus of "Hold" with an average target price of $543.13, while several analysts set higher individual target prices above $590.

Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 61.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,660 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 4,230 shares during the period. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in 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. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the 1st 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. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the 1st 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. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the 1st 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, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 536,169 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $196,527,000 after acquiring an additional 20,124 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $590.00 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target 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. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $543.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $514.86 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $539.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.06. The firm'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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.30 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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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