Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Sold by Cinctive Capital Management LP

Cinctive Capital Management LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 63.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,827 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 25,493 shares during the period. Cinctive Capital Management LP’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $8,107,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,353,414 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,926,979,000 after purchasing an additional 33,674 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 8.9% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 1,263,820 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $690,994,000 after buying an additional 103,540 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 33.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 840,383 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $459,479,000 after buying an additional 211,485 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 9.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 654,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $306,234,000 after buying an additional 56,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 626,093 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $342,316,000 after buying an additional 43,458 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Ulta Beauty

Here are the key news stories impacting Ulta Beauty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 top-line beat — net sales rose ~11.8% to about $3.9B, driven by comps and new stores, showing resilient demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Digital momentum and new channels: Ulta cites AI-driven personalization boosting e‑commerce and is launching a curated assortment on TikTok Shop to reach younger customers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: FY2026 outlook shows growth but slower cadence — management guided to mid-single-digit sales growth (roughly 6–7%) and provided an EPS range; the plan signals continued growth but a deceleration from FY25. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts largely keep positive ratings but are trimming price targets after the print — many firms reaffirm buy/overweight while lowering targets to reflect the more cautious margin/advertising outlook. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure from rising costs and higher SG&A — operating margin compressed as advertising, incentive compensation and strategic investments increased, squeezing EPS versus last year. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market disappointed by the forward profit signal — investors viewed the FY26 profit/same-store-sales targets and incremental spending as conservative or risk-increasing, triggering heavy selling and analyst target resets. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selloff and volatile sentiment — the post-earnings move has driven large intraday volume and rapid target revisions, increasing short-term downside risk despite longer-term bullish arguments. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $750.00 to $650.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $680.00 to $712.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $610.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $700.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $671.27.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $535.72 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $323.36 and a one year high of $714.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $665.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $587.27. The company has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The specialty retailer reported $8.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 44.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.46 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.050-28.550 EPS. 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 (NASDAQ: ULTA) is a U.S.-based specialty retailer and beauty services provider focused on cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, hair care, bath and body, and beauty tools. The company operates a dual-format business that combines brick-and-mortar retail stores with an e-commerce platform, offering a broad assortment of national, prestige and mass-market brands alongside its own private-label products. In many locations Ulta also provides full-service salon treatments, positioning the company as a one-stop destination for product discovery and in-store services.

The retailer’s product mix spans color cosmetics, haircare and styling products, skin and body care, fragrance, and accessories, catering to a wide range of consumer preferences and price points.