Advisors Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,527 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 118.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $343.83 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $535.08. The firm has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.76, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $381.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.80.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.