Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,123 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 227 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $13,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the third 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 during the period. Atreides Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at $73,069,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $54,884,000 after purchasing an additional 90,972 shares during the period. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. William Blair downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $365.70 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $406.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $388.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.