Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Position Lessened by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 40.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 60,203 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 40,217 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $26,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during 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. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after acquiring an additional 31,540 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after acquiring an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 33.9% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 321,605 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $125,143,000 after acquiring an additional 81,414 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Loop Capital raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.4 %

ULTA stock opened at $361.54 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $408.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $386.66.

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