Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Stock Position Boosted by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 17.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 80,734 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 1.21% of Ulta Beauty worth $254,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $449,021,000 after purchasing an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 442,372 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $341,453,000 after buying an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $80,753,000 after buying an additional 216,089 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One research 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $543.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $528.80 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $539.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $511.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $440.67. The company has a market capitalization of $23.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.