Swedbank AB Increases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 46.1%, owning a total of 464,316 shares valued at approximately $170.19 million as of the latest quarter.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Ulta Beauty to as high as $640.00, with ratings ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Sell," reflecting a generally favorable outlook for the company.
• Ulta Beauty reported earnings of $5.78 per share, surpassing expectations, and reported revenue of $2.79 billion, indicating a 9.3% year-over-year increase.

Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 46.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 464,316 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 146,402 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned about 1.03% of Ulta Beauty worth $170,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ULTA. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,255 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $981,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 174.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,310 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $6,224,000 after acquiring an additional 9,096 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 17,421 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $7,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth $303,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,802 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $5,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $543.13.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $521.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 2.84 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 stock's fifty day moving average price is $508.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $436.33.

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