LPL Financial LLC Trims Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 18.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,343 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 14,431 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $27,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 199.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $348,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $359.47 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $529.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $373.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $386.31. The firm has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS 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.