Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Acquired by BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 124.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,039 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $359,480,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 14.1% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 620,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $239,545,000 after purchasing an additional 76,721 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $237,519,000 after purchasing an additional 31,540 shares during the period. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 14.4% in the third quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 516,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $200,944,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $356.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $472.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $375.25 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $374.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $376.68.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.02 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current year.

About Ulta Beauty

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.