Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Sit Investment Associates Inc.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. cut its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,552 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 795 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $430,674,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% in the 1st 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $334,871,000 after acquiring an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $80,753,000 after acquiring an additional 216,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,780,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.2%

ULTA stock opened at $526.18 on Friday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $534.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $487.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $417.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.12.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ULTA shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $542.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 price objective on Ulta Beauty and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $473.00.

About Ulta Beauty

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.