Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Whittier Trust Co.

Whittier Trust Co. cut its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 29.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 774 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $337,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 382.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,163,000 after buying an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 22.3% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,197 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 16.0% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 5,581 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,770 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $5,747,000 after buying an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 307,665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $119,719,000 after buying an additional 6,825 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $350.57 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $377.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $386.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $529.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $8.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

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.