UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 8.5%, owning a total of 474,914 shares after acquiring 37,105 shares in the first quarter, valued at approximately $174 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Ulta Beauty, with estimates between $550 to $640 and the stock currently holding a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Ulta Beauty reported a strong financial performance, with $5.78 earnings per share exceeding analyst expectations of $5.03, and a quarterly revenue of $2.79 billion.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 474,914 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 37,105 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned 1.05% of Ulta Beauty worth $174,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optimize Financial Inc boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 47.8% during the 1st quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 2,031 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 256.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,248 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $7,422,000 after acquiring an additional 14,563 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $337,000. RNC Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. RNC Capital Management LLC now owns 7,537 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,763,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $375,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $605.00 price objective (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $543.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $521.89 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $539.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $508.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $436.33.

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