Strategic Financial Services Inc. Reduces Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Strategic Financial Services Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,450 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 459 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $461,059,000 after buying an additional 10,153 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after buying an additional 31,540 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 450,239 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $186,912,000 after buying an additional 74,013 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $343.72 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $380.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $386.50. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $532.70. The company has a market capitalization of $15.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities 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.