Federated Hermes Inc. Boosts Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 37.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,504 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 11,609 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Ulta Beauty worth $16,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 76,721 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $263,192,000. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 47.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 476,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $246,862,000 after purchasing an additional 153,727 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 357,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $186,933,000 after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at approximately $176,753,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ULTA. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $300.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $389.29 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $368.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $411.13.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.