Highland Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Highland Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,561 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,333 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 490.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $356.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 1.7 %

ULTA stock opened at $373.30 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $376.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $384.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.32.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current year.

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.