Xponance Inc. Sells 611 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,695 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 611 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the second quarter worth $26,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $31,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $413.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $511.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $467.62. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.87, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.