Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 1,951 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,965 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jensen Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% in 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 period. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $793,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 100.0% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $4,480,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 382.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,163,000 after buying an additional 8,481 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $374.79 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $417.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.20. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for 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%. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.07 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ulta Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $430.00 to $500.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

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.