Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Invests $234,000 in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 538 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 185.9% during the fourth quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 263 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $114,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 91.0% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 64,985 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,264,000 after acquiring an additional 30,962 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 1,342 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. Finally, Heron Bay Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Heron Bay Capital Management now owns 38,810 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $16,880,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $370.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $376.15 and a 200-day moving average of $386.59. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $529.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock 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 given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.13.

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.