Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Acquires New Shares in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 479 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 118.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA opened at $422.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $404.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $384.77.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.93 EPS for the current year.

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.