Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Raises Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 135,375 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,662 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $58,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 665 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,881,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,576 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 832 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ULTA shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $359.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $373.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $386.31. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $529.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.