Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Decreases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty by 14.4% during the first quarter, now holding 5,504 shares valued at approximately $2 million.
• Shares of Ulta Beauty recently opened at $492.73, with a market capitalization of $22.15 billion and a one-year price range of $309.01 to $538.59.
• Ulta Beauty reported an earnings per share of $5.78 in its latest quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and marking a 9.3% year-over-year revenue increase.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 14.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,504 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 928 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lido Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 626 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 72.9% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 80,067 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $34,823,000 after buying an additional 33,749 shares in the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $215,000. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $512,000. Finally, Advanced Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $1,263,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $590.00 price target on the stock. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $543.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.7%

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $3.50 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $527.57. 403,072 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 890,936. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $502.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $429.92. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $539.00. The company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.06.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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.