Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Gateway Investment Advisers LLC

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC trimmed its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,963 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $854,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,826 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,221 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 39.6% during the third quarter. Global Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 141 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,257,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $405.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $404.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $384.76. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.07 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.93 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. B. Riley raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $460.30.

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.