Ulta Beauty Inc vs Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF — how do they compare? Ulta Beauty Inc trades at $531.85 (market cap $23.27B), while Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF trades at $246.64. The key difference: Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF is trading nearer its 52-week high, Ulta Beauty Inc nearer its low. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ULTA | VIG | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $23.27B | — |
Sector | Consumer Cyclical | — |
52-Week High | $706.82 | $245.79 |
52-Week Low | $450.75 | $208.67 |
Enterprise Value | $25.35B | — |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
ULTA stock trades at $532.14, down 3.01% today, amid mixed technical signals with a bullish moving average trend but neutral oscillators. The company reported Q1 2026 EPS of $7.74, beating expectations, and maintains strong profitability with a 39.33% gross margin and 47.45% ROE. Recent news highlights Ulta's omnichannel growth strategy and the end of its Target partnership, viewed as a potential revenue opportunity by analysts.
Outlook is positive with a consensus price target of $618.29, representing 16% upside, supported by 56.53% analyst buy ratings. Risks include margin compression, with net income margin projected to drop to 9.35% in 2026, and volatile cash flows, as net cash flow turned negative in 2025. Investors should weigh strong fundamentals against competitive and execution risks in the retail sector.
VIG trades at $246.19, up 0.16% on the day, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages but overbought RSI readings. The ETF focuses on dividend growth stocks, with a 1.5% yield and a 20-year streak of dividend increases. Recent news highlights its role in retirement income strategies and comparisons with peers like SCHD.
The outlook remains positive for long-term investors seeking dividend growth and lower risk, though high RSI suggests near-term consolidation. Risks include market volatility and interest rate sensitivity, but institutional interest and a quality stock selection process support its defensive appeal.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
With more than 1,300 stores and a partnership with Target, Ulta Beauty is the largest specialized beauty retailer in the U.S. The firm offers makeup (43% of 2021 sales), fragrances, skin care, and hair care products (20% of 2021 sales), and bath and body items. Ulta offers private-label products and merchandise from more than 500 vendors. It also offers salon services, including hair, makeup, skin, and brow services, in all stores. Most Ulta stores are approximately 10,000 square feet and are in suburban strip centers. Ulta was founded in 1990 and is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois.
Read more on ULTA →The advisor employs an indexing investment approach designed to track the performance of the index, which consists of common stocks of companies that have a record of increasing dividends over time. The advisor attempts to replicate the target index by investing all, or substantially all, of its assets in the stocks that make up the index, holding each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index.
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