VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases Shares of 82,500 Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 82,500 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $38,595,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 142.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 178.4% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 103 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.7%

ULTA opened at $533.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $531.17 and a 200-day moving average of $470.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $572.23.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $650.00 to $653.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.38.

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.