Machina Capital S.A.S. Invests $538,000 in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 984 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 654,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $306,234,000 after buying an additional 56,063 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 582,635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $272,568,000 after acquiring an additional 30,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 581,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $317,938,000 after acquiring an additional 36,456 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter valued at about $258,791,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 76.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 477,504 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $222,794,000 after purchasing an additional 207,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $610.00 to $685.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $700.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $675.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, December 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.44.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.1%

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $677.91 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $695.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $624.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $558.99. The company has a market cap of $30.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.85.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.61 by $0.53. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 46.33% and a net margin of 9.93%.The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.200-25.500 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

About Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty, Inc (NASDAQ: ULTA) is a U.S.-based specialty retailer and beauty services provider focused on cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, hair care, bath and body, and beauty tools. The company operates a dual-format business that combines brick-and-mortar retail stores with an e-commerce platform, offering a broad assortment of national, prestige and mass-market brands alongside its own private-label products. In many locations Ulta also provides full-service salon treatments, positioning the company as a one-stop destination for product discovery and in-store services.

The retailer’s product mix spans color cosmetics, haircare and styling products, skin and body care, fragrance, and accessories, catering to a wide range of consumer preferences and price points.