KBC Group NV Reduces Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

KBC Group NV reduced its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 46.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,037 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 13,689 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth about $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares during the period. Atreides Management LP acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $73,069,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $54,884,000 after buying an additional 90,972 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $418.53 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $411.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $385.75. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $318.17 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.07 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $430.00 to $500.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $459.22.

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.