Norges Bank Acquires Shares of 550,508 Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 550,508 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $239,432,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.19% of Ulta Beauty as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $461,059,000 after acquiring an additional 10,153 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 450,239 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $186,912,000 after purchasing an additional 74,013 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,938 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $139,151,000 after purchasing an additional 12,273 shares during the period. Finally, Summitry LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 216,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $94,237,000 after purchasing an additional 5,137 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $405.00 to $365.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Loop Capital raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $359.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $373.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.41. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $529.67.

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

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.