Ethic Inc. Has $1.17 Million Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,548 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 835 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 688,267 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the first 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $298,231,000 after buying an additional 79,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $254,985,000 after buying an additional 80,734 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $517.66 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $531.50 and its 200-day moving average is $477.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped 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. Finally, Cowen restated 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 assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.38.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.