Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by AMF Tjanstepension AB

AMF Tjanstepension AB lessened its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 19,374 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $8,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jensen Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $793,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,480,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 382.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,163,000 after purchasing an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $355.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $394.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $388.07.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

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.