Sanders Capital LLC Has $690.99 Million Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,263,820 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,540 shares during the quarter. Sanders Capital LLC owned 2.82% of Ulta Beauty worth $690,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 581,506 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $317,938,000 after acquiring an additional 36,456 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 133,889 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $73,204,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $71,997,000. Bowen Hanes & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $6,012,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 90.1% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 36,647 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $20,037,000 after purchasing an additional 17,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Ulta Beauty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 top-line beat — net sales rose ~11.8% to about $3.9B, driven by comps and new stores, showing resilient demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Digital momentum and new channels: Ulta cites AI-driven personalization boosting e‑commerce and is launching a curated assortment on TikTok Shop to reach younger customers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: FY2026 outlook shows growth but slower cadence — management guided to mid-single-digit sales growth (roughly 6–7%) and provided an EPS range; the plan signals continued growth but a deceleration from FY25. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts largely keep positive ratings but are trimming price targets after the print — many firms reaffirm buy/overweight while lowering targets to reflect the more cautious margin/advertising outlook. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure from rising costs and higher SG&A — operating margin compressed as advertising, incentive compensation and strategic investments increased, squeezing EPS versus last year. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market disappointed by the forward profit signal — investors viewed the FY26 profit/same-store-sales targets and incremental spending as conservative or risk-increasing, triggering heavy selling and analyst target resets. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selloff and volatile sentiment — the post-earnings move has driven large intraday volume and rapid target revisions, increasing short-term downside risk despite longer-term bullish arguments. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $810.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $700.00 target price on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $750.00 to $650.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $671.27.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $535.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $665.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $586.85. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $323.36 and a fifty-two week high of $714.97.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The specialty retailer reported $8.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.93 by $0.08. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 44.44% and a net margin of 9.31%.The company had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.46 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS 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.