Westpac Banking Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1,418.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,734 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,027 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,022,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 688,267 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 valued at $341,453,000 after buying an additional 366,147 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $334,871,000 after acquiring an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 79,666 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 80,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ULTA. Piper Sandler began coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $590.00 target price for the company. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $650.00 to $653.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $529.34 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $531.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $493.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Activity

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.