First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 156.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 76,358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 46,600 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.17% of Ulta Beauty worth $35,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 64.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,002 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.4% in the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 31,930 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $14,937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at $216,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 19,530 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,137,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Finally, Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter worth $258,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $602.97 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.87. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $611.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $534.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $509.96.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.53. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 46.33% and a net margin of 9.93%.The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.200-25.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $680.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $647.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $575.25.

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.