Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 7,726 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Impax Asset Management Group plc cut its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 7,726 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $21,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $341,453,000 after acquiring an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $298,231,000 after purchasing an additional 79,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 17.4% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,985,000 after purchasing an additional 80,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 2.4%

ULTA opened at $535.40 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a PE ratio of 20.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $530.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $491.15. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.