Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Purchased by Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 76.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,929 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $4,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $404.84 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $495.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $469.79.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. 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 posted $6.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ULTA shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 price target (down from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $612.00 to $434.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James lowered 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $548.05.

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.