Ghe LLC Takes Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Ghe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,456 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,345,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ULTA. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock traded up $1.88 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $381.67. The company had a trading volume of 35,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 958,967. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $379.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $379.63. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current 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.