HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 959 Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 959 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $470,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 59.1% during the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $513.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $524.24 and a 200-day moving average of $461.40. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $368.02 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during 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 was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $545.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $579.81.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operate specialty retail stores selling cosmetics, fragrance, haircare and skincare products, and related accessories and services in the United States. It offers broad assortment of branded and private label beauty products including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools; and salon services, including hair, skin, makeup, and brow services, as well as nail services.