Duality Advisers LP Takes $1.85 Million Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Duality Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,774 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,849,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.4% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth approximately $578,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 248.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.1% during the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 20,886 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,343,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,242 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $417.98 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $509.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $468.85. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $368.02 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $20.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.