Blair William & Co. IL Trims Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,550 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 218.5% during the first quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 86 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth about $37,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $605.00 price objective (up from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Ulta Beauty in a report on Thursday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $590.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $549.33.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $549.28 on Monday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $572.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $528.22 and a 200-day moving average of $465.22. The firm has a market cap of $24.63 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.