Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Takes Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 975 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $640.00 price objective (up from $610.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, December 1st. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, December 8th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.84.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $669.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.85. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $714.97. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $651.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $574.38.

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

Ulta Beauty Company 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.