Perigon Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Perigon Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 486 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,344,096,000 after purchasing an additional 40,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,997,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,090,149,000 after purchasing an additional 27,840 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 125.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,530,543 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $717,932,000 after purchasing an additional 852,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100,246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,089,000 after acquiring an additional 19,467 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 worth $12,920,326. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $424.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $515.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $467.84. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ULTA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Loop Capital raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.