Swedbank AB Cuts Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 317,914 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,691 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned 0.69% of Ulta Beauty worth $138,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jensen Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $793,000. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 31.0% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,014 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,480,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $430.00 to $500.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock traded down $2.20 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $411.04. 102,267 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 775,706. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $410.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.57. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.07 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.