Liberty Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,512 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 4,811 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,881,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,576 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 832 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Hedeker Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 7,010 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,049,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA opened at $374.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $417.81 and a 200-day moving average of $386.20. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $459.22.

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.