Norges Bank Buys Shares of 712,323 Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 712,323 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $430,963,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $6,012,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 135.6% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 6,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,744 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $1,008,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 979.1% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 74,201 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $40,569,000 after purchasing an additional 67,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 24.7% in the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 30,849 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $16,867,000 after purchasing an additional 6,118 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director George R. Mrkonic, Jr. sold 452 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.29, for a total value of $243,759.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,383 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,285,128.07. This trade represents a 15.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ULTA. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $750.00 to $650.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Zacks Research lowered Ulta Beauty from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $800.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Monday, April 20th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $687.95.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $500.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.86. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a twelve month low of $452.00 and a twelve month high of $714.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $525.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $585.92.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The specialty retailer reported $8.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.93 by $0.08. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 43.56% and a net margin of 9.31%.The company had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.050-28.550 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 28.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty 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.