Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,365 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 220 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $11,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Loop Capital raised Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.3 %

ULTA stock opened at $419.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $507.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $469.06. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

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

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.