Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Buys 1,223 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,237 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,223 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Ulta Beauty worth $13,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 167.8% during the 2nd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 4,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter valued at about $395,000. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $306,000. waypoint wealth counsel bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth about $246,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the second quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Argus raised Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 3.9%

ULTA stock opened at $515.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $530.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $496.31. 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. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.