Norges Bank Takes Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 550,508 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $239,432,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 118.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $359.47 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $373.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $386.41. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $529.67. The company has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.13.

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.