Moran Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Moran Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,335 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 142.9% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 218.5% during the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 86 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 71.4% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 96 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $549.33.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $541.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $572.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $529.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $467.02.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.