Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. Has $11.57 Million Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 18.5%, owning 31,559 shares worth approximately $11.57 million as of the latest quarter.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Ulta Beauty, with Oppenheimer setting a new target of $600 and a total of fourteen analysts rating the stock as a Buy.
• Ulta Beauty reported a 9.3% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share at $5.78, surpassing analysts' estimates of $5.03.

Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 18.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,559 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 4,931 shares during the period. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. owned 0.07% of Ulta Beauty worth $11,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 218.5% in the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 86 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 71.4% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 96 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $37,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $605.00 price objective (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $590.00 price objective for the company. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $543.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.8%

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $514.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.06. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $539.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $432.06.

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

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.

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