Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 42 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $365.17 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $318.17 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The stock has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $380.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $379.18.

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

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.