F M Investments LLC Trims Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

F M Investments LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 27.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,061 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 10,372 shares during the quarter. F M Investments LLC owned about 0.06% of Ulta Beauty worth $11,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,146,000. Greenland Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $267,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 466.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 34,592 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $15,045,000 after purchasing an additional 28,481 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,362,000 after purchasing an additional 1,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,118 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 10.7 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $363.19 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $460.00. The company has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $362.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $384.07.

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