Vinva Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 840 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 382.5% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,163,000 after acquiring an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1,052.6% during the third quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 8,218 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,505 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 307,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $119,719,000 after acquiring an additional 6,825 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Barclays cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, B. Riley lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $350.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $377.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.17. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $529.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current 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.