RWA Wealth Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

RWA Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 81.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,146 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $410.55 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $505.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $468.65. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.68 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 target price (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.52.

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.