Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Reduces Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 123,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,378 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $60,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 1,260 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 4.3% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 2,852 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $425.11 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $514.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $467.55.

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

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. 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. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 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, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $568.29.

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.