Magellan Asset Management Ltd Decreases Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 67,179 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 5,484 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $29,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,257,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $348,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $384.00 to $423.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $382.51 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $474.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $371.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $386.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.