Curbstone Financial Management Corp Buys New Shares in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Curbstone Financial Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 3,360 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,232,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $430,674,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,681,000 after purchasing an additional 454,711 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $162,565,000 after purchasing an additional 442,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $73,780,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $462.21 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $491.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $398.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $393.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.09.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $542.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $477.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $460.91.

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.