Impax Asset Management Group plc Raises Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,056 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,637 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned about 0.22% of Ulta Beauty worth $44,822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $73,069,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after buying an additional 90,972 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $361.54 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $408.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $387.54. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ulta Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $459.22.

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.