Machina Capital S.A.S. Makes New Investment in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 984 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $538,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Focus Partners Wealth raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 231.6% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,744 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after purchasing an additional 2,615 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 4,795 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after buying an additional 1,574 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $466,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 851 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 18,016 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $605.00 to $790.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.44.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $677.91 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $624.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $558.99. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $695.34. The company has a market capitalization 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 46.33% and a net margin of 9.93%.The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.14 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2025 guidance at 25.200-25.500 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

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.