Avalon Trust Co Decreases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Avalon Trust Co cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 28.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,775 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,120 shares during the quarter. Avalon Trust Co’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $449,021,000 after purchasing an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $341,453,000 after buying an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $334,871,000 after buying an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $298,231,000 after acquiring an additional 79,666 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 17.4% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 545,050 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $254,985,000 after acquiring an additional 80,734 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $535.40 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.05. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $572.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $530.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $491.15.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.