Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Acquired by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,018 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 509 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $3,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 118.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ULTA. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $314.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $386.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $386.82.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 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.