Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Acquired by Swedbank AB

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 17.4%, owning approximately 545,050 shares valued at $254.98 million.
• Ulta Beauty's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $5.78, exceeding analysts' estimates by $0.75, along with a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.3%.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Price T Rowe Associates and GAMMA Investing LLC, significantly increased their positions in Ulta Beauty, indicating strong institutional support with 90.39% of the stock owned by institutional investors.

Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 17.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 80,734 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned 1.21% of Ulta Beauty worth $254,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $449,021,000 after buying an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $162,565,000 after acquiring an additional 442,372 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $80,753,000 after purchasing an additional 216,089 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of ULTA traded down $13.34 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $521.47. 1,150,760 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 888,832. The company has a market capitalization of $23.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.06. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $539.00. The company's 50 day moving average is $514.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $443.18.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $543.13.

Insider Activity

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

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.