Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 258.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 90,972 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.27% of Ulta Beauty worth $54,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after buying an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $73,069,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 87.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $130,380,000 after buying an additional 157,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $407.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $402.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $384.25.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $460.30.

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.