National Pension Service Trims Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

National Pension Service lowered its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,284 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,278 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.17% of Ulta Beauty worth $34,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 118.4% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $366.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $403.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $388.12. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.