WD Rutherford LLC Acquires 130 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

WD Rutherford LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,542 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. WD Rutherford LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $556.52.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $406.39 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $500.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $468.35. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $19.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.