Silvant Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Silvant Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 60.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,187 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 3,475 shares during the period. Silvant Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $4,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $449,021,000 after acquiring an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $298,231,000 after buying an additional 79,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 582,635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,568,000 after buying an additional 30,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $535.16 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $529.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $500.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.52, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.05. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $572.23.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.30 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Argus raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.