Mattern Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Mattern Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $449,021,000 after purchasing an additional 688,267 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $341,453,000 after buying an additional 366,147 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $334,871,000 after buying an additional 410,900 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the 1st 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 period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,985,000 after buying an additional 80,734 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 price objective on Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $605.00 price objective (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $544.20.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $557.82 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $522.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $455.37. The stock has a market cap of $25.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $559.41.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.