Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC Has $826,000 Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,686 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Savant Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 1,436 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 76.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,375,000 after acquiring an additional 3,874 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 151,162 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $74,068,000 after purchasing an additional 27,139 shares in the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 2,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 56,580 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,698,000 after acquiring an additional 2,490 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. 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 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $402.11 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $368.02 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $492.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $469.32. The company has a market capitalization of $19.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $548.05.

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.