United Services Automobile Association Acquires Shares of 1,043 Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• United Services Automobile Association acquired 1,043 shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. in the 1st quarter, valued at approximately $375,000.
• Ulta Beauty reported strong quarterly earnings with $5.78 EPS, surpassing expectations, and a revenue of $2.79 billion, up 9.3% year-over-year.
• Analysts have increased their target prices for Ulta Beauty, with estimates ranging from $550 to $617, indicating positive sentiment towards the stock.

United Services Automobile Association acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,043 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $375,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 79,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 20,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $521.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $508.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $436.33. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $539.00.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $543.13.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm's 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 sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

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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