Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA Cuts Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA decreased its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,094 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 251 shares during the period. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 347.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,061,000 after acquiring an additional 55,508 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $1,810,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 284,442 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $113,620,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Finally, Asio Capital LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 64.3% during the fourth quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,984,000 after buying an additional 3,980 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock traded up $2.92 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $420.90. 327,827 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 765,354. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $509.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $468.85.

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

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty 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.