Vestcor Inc Sells 2,050 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Vestcor Inc lessened its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 60.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,321 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,050 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 44.7% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 305.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 29,726 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $11,567,000 after purchasing an additional 22,392 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 6.0% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,104 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.3% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 970.0% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 39,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $15,371,000 after purchasing an additional 35,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $357.48 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $385.01 and a 200 day moving average of $386.94. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $544.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $8.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $431.13.

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.