Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Grows Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,832 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 143 shares during the quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 347.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $35,061,000 after purchasing an additional 55,508 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth $1,810,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 284,442 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $113,620,000 after purchasing an additional 2,126 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 27,037 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $561.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $419.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $507.45 and its 200-day moving average is $469.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion for 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 was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.68 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.