UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Increases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Key Points

• UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 95.4%, owning 20,676 shares valued at approximately $7.58 million after purchasing an additional 10,094 shares in Q1.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly increased their positions in Ulta, with Capital World Investors acquiring a new stake worth about $430.67 million and Marshall Wace LLP boosting its holdings by over 10,300%.
• Analysts have issued a consensus rating of "Hold" for Ulta Beauty, with price targets ranging from $450.00 to $525.00, indicating positive expectations for the company’s stock performance.

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 95.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,676 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 10,094 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $430,674,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $199,681,000 after acquiring an additional 454,711 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $162,565,000 after acquiring an additional 442,372 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $80,753,000 after acquiring an additional 216,089 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,780,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $440.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $466.57.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $515.01 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $473.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $410.77. The company has a market capitalization of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $523.68.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 49.73%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.47 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research 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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