Foundry Partners LLC Buys Shares of 461 Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 461 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $578,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 248.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.1% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 20,886 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,343,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,242 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $419.27 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $507.45 and a 200-day moving average of $469.06. The company has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 1.71 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.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 target price (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.