NewEdge Wealth LLC Invests $807,000 in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $807,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.1 %

ULTA stock opened at $424.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $517.68 and a 200 day moving average of $468.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ULTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $610.00 to $585.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.70.

Ulta Beauty 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.