Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,161 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 747 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $19,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ULTA. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,867 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,576 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 121.4% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ULTA. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $363.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $16.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $362.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $384.07.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced 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 business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.