Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 3.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,209 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 365 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $3,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth $73,069,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 87.3% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $130,380,000 after buying an additional 157,497 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $357.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $439.30.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.1 %

ULTA opened at $425.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $383.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $379.16. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.32.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.