New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 6,953 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 37,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 6,953 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $18,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $614,568,000 after acquiring an additional 556,809 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,658 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $229,947,000 after purchasing an additional 21,828 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $228,051,000 after purchasing an additional 33,508 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 86.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 342,547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 158,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 15.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 293,126 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $117,089,000 after purchasing an additional 40,166 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $406.39 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $500.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $469.42. The firm has a market cap of $19.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 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 business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ULTA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $556.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’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 value of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’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 value of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $12,920,326. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.