Hartford Investment Management Co. Sells 88 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Hartford Investment Management Co. lessened its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,912 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,624 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 4,259 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 4,340 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,888,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 197 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $365.14 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $16.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $415.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.17.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted 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 company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ULTA. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

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.