Swedbank AB Sells 3,691 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Swedbank AB decreased its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 317,914 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 3,691 shares during the period. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $138,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $461,059,000 after purchasing an additional 10,153 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after acquiring an additional 31,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 516,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $200,944,000 after purchasing an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ULTA. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of ULTA stock traded down $2.20 on Wednesday, hitting $411.04. The company had a trading volume of 102,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 775,706. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $19.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $410.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $385.57.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.07 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect 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.