Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 14,895 Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,895 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $6,494,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 913.9% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 451.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 149 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 100.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 10,353 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after acquiring an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 47,142 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $18,344,000 after acquiring an additional 8,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth about $863,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $342.93 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $367.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $385.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.08 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.61.

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.