Aristides Capital LLC Buys 920 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Aristides Capital LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 92.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,920 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the quarter. Aristides Capital LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 118.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $405.00 to $365.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $359.36 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $460.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $369.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $385.89. The stock has a market cap of $16.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.08 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.