HM Payson & Co. Makes New Investment in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 226 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Choreo LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 71.7% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 92.8% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 7,278 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,806,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 10.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $46,954,000 after purchasing an additional 8,337 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,136,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,778 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $377.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $376.32 and its 200-day moving average is $381.69. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets set a $385.00 price target on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.71.

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.