New England Research & Management Inc. Raises Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 151.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,825 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth approximately $176,753,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 45,740.3% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 291,544 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $142,854,000 after buying an additional 290,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after buying an additional 260,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.87.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $385.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $392.42 and a 200-day moving average of $463.13. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $368.02 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share 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 a sign 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.