Strs Ohio Buys Shares of 41,500 Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Strs Ohio purchased 41,500 shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. for approximately $15.2 million, making up about 0.09% of the company's stock by the end of the recent reporting period.
• Several institutional investors, including JPMorgan Chase and Price T Rowe Associates, significantly increased their stakes in Ulta Beauty, highlighting a growing interest in the company.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Ulta Beauty, with UBS Group setting a new target of $680, while the stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 41,500 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $15,211,000. Strs Ohio owned about 0.09% of Ulta Beauty at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 688,267 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $298,231,000 after purchasing an additional 79,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 536,169 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $196,527,000 after purchasing an additional 20,124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ULTA. UBS Group raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 price target on Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $543.13.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.4%

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $514.62 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $539.00. The company has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $509.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $437.85.

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