Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,483,095 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 100,009 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Ulta Beauty worth $2,384,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 16.0% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 5,581 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 93.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,856 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,315 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,256,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $371.90 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $375.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $386.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.25 billion, a PE ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $529.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. 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 research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.