Rathbones Group PLC Reduces Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Rathbones Group PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 181,697 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,909 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $79,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $239,432,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,074,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 159,053 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,177,000 after buying an additional 124,822 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. B. Riley cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $359.36 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $16.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $460.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $369.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.77.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $8.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ulta Beauty

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.