Gradient Investments LLC Sells 133 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Gradient Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,592 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,997,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth about $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after buying an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $73,069,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 258.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after acquiring an additional 90,972 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $417.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.37 billion, a PE ratio of 16.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $407.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $385.62. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $430.00 to $500.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.