Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 681 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 80.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,523 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 681 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $746,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 347.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,061,000 after acquiring an additional 55,508 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,810,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 284,442 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $113,620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.3% in the fourth quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,984,000 after buying an additional 3,980 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ULTA. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $438.00 price objective (down from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $419.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $507.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $469.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Ulta Beauty Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operates as a specialty beauty retailer in the United States. The company offers branded and private label beauty products, including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools through its Ulta Beauty stores, shop-in-shops, Ulta.com website, and its mobile applications.