Wealth Alliance LLC Takes $279,000 Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 597 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake 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 during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 valued at $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 17.4% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ULTA. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $550.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $533.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $531.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $491.44. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $572.23. The stock has a market cap of $23.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.05.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly 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. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.30 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.