Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Buys 273 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 25.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,334 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ULTA. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 15,756 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,713 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,025 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 72,415 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,926,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 45.1% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 1,689 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $675,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 4.6% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,261,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.05.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In related news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $397.39 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $486.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $468.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.