Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Has $826,000 Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,686 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 45,740.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 291,544 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $142,854,000 after acquiring an additional 290,908 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 86.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 342,547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 158,897 shares during the last quarter. Scopus Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,945,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 74.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 221,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $88,630,000 after purchasing an additional 94,581 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.05.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $402.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $492.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $469.32.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Ulta Beauty

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.