Morningstar Investment Management LLC Takes $201,000 Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 462 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,409,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $793,000. Stephens Inc. AR raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 31.0% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,014 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,231,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 100.0% in the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth $4,480,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $359.96 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $412.67 and a 200-day moving average of $386.75. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.