State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 4.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,588 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 749 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 142.9% in the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 178.4% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 103 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Argus upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $590.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.3%

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $517.66 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $23.21 billion, a PE ratio of 19.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $531.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $477.34. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.