Eastern Bank Sells 1,258 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Eastern Bank cut its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 52.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,139 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,258 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter worth about $19,136,000. Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $14,665,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at about $793,000. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 31.0% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,014 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,231,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $460.30.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $403.94 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $402.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $384.13. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.