Guidance Capital Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Guidance Capital Inc. cut its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 32.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 583 shares during the quarter. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter valued at about $1,500,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3.3% in the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 29,339 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $11,416,000 after buying an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.4% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 9,720 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,782,000 after buying an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 26.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 422 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 7.2% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,061 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $409.19 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $415.83 and a 200-day moving average of $385.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lifted 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $459.22.

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.