Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.26 Million Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $481,952,000 after buying an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 87.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $130,380,000 after purchasing an additional 157,497 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 47.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 476,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $246,862,000 after purchasing an additional 153,727 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 107.0% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 240,191 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $92,683,000 after purchasing an additional 124,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 620,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $239,545,000 after purchasing an additional 76,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $365.17 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The stock has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $380.06 and its 200-day moving average is $379.18.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $356.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.