HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 71,358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 21,566 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.16% of Ulta Beauty worth $39,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 581,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $317,938,000 after acquiring an additional 36,456 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.6% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,889 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,204,000 after purchasing an additional 2,121 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth about $71,997,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 90.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,647 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,037,000 after buying an additional 17,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stance Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,809,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $706.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $644.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $569.54. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $707.25.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULTA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $690.00 to $780.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $606.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $653.00 to $674.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $610.00 to $685.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.44.

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.