Schear Investment Advisers LLC Raises Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,446 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Ulta Beauty comprises about 1.2% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,344,096,000 after purchasing an additional 40,190 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,997,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,090,149,000 after purchasing an additional 27,840 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the third 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 period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 125.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 852,258 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100,246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,089,000 after purchasing an additional 19,467 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.4 %

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $10.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $414.83. The company had a trading volume of 695,870 shares, compared to its average volume of 767,526. The stock has a market cap of $20.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $514.01 and a 200 day moving average of $467.55. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

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.