On June 11, 2023, Marshall Wace LLP announced that it had decreased its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 24.1% towards the end of the fourth quarter. This move came as a surprise to many, given the specialty retailer’s consistently strong performance over recent years.
Ulta Beauty is a company that engages in the retail of beauty products through retail stores, salon services, and e-commerce. Its products include makeup, skin care, tools and brushes, fragrance, and bath and body. Since its inception on January 9, 1990 in Bolingbrook, IL., Ulta has been dedicated to providing high quality beauty products to consumers around the world.
Despite this stronghold on the market, shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $423.62 on June 11th with a market capitalization of $21.10 billion. The lowered stake held by Marshall Wace LLP caused some slight uncertainty among investors but ultimately did not affect the company’s overall standing.
The retailer’s P/E ratio stood at 17.22 with a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 while also maintaining a beta of 1.33. Additionally, its 50-day moving average was at $499.38 with its 200 day moving average resting at $497.76.
It is unknown what factors led to Marshall Wace LLP’s decision to decrease its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc., though it is speculated that this asset manager may have needed to reorganize their portfolio or liquidate their holdings for strategic purposes.
Overall, despite this sudden shift in holdings from Marshall Wace LLP , Ulta Beauty inc maintained a strong standing among investors and customers alike as an industry leader in beauty retail boasting impressive financials year after year.
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Large Institutional Investors Boost Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. While Insiders Sell Shares
Ulta Beauty Inc., the beauty product retailer, has recently seen a significant increase in its shares owned by large investors. These include Jennison Associates LLC, which boosted its stake in the company by over 11,000% during the fourth quarter; Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD, which increased its stake by 86% during Q3; Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership, which grew its ownership by 36.4% in Q4; Los Angeles Capital Management LLC, which raised its position by 251.6% in Q4; and Invesco Ltd., which lifted its stake by 33.6% during Q1. Together these institutional investors hold 90.47% of Ulta Beauty’s stock.
However, some insiders have been selling their shares of the company recently. Jodi J. Caro sold 4,500 shares at an average price of $506.65 on March 20th for a total value of $2,279,925, and Mike C. Smith sold 400 shares at an average price of $521.63 on March 14th for a total transaction worth $208,652.
Ulta Beauty operates retail stores and offers salon services and e-commerce options to customers looking to purchase makeup, skincare products, tools and brushes, fragrance products as well as bath and body products.
In May this year Ulta Beauty announced it had beaten analysts’ earnings estimates for the first quarter with EPS (earnings per share) of $6.88 surpassing expectations of $6.82 per share revenue totaling $2.63 billion compared with analysts estimate of $2.62 billion.
Wall Street analysts appear generally positive about Ulta Beauty’s future with one analyst giving it a strong buy rating whilst thirteen others issued a buy rating to accompany six holding ratings and only one sell rating resulting in Bloomberg.com giving the stock an “average rating” of “moderate buy” and an average price of $547.21 per share as a consensus target.