Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Position Reduced by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,300 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,530,543 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $717,932,000 after acquiring an additional 852,258 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth about $205,146,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 45,740.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 291,544 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $142,854,000 after purchasing an additional 290,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 86.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 342,547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after buying an additional 158,897 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $424.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $515.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.84.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $610.00 to $585.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $568.29.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.