Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 15,258 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 26.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 73,137 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,258 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $31,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $461,059,000 after purchasing an additional 10,153 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $239,432,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 450,239 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $186,912,000 after buying an additional 74,013 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,938 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $139,151,000 after buying an additional 12,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summitry LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 216,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $94,237,000 after buying an additional 5,137 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $359.36 on Monday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The company has a market cap of $16.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $369.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $385.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $8.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. B. Riley reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.61.

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.