Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 222 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,511 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 222 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,092,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Holocene Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares during the period. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth about $73,069,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth about $58,074,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 159,053 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,177,000 after acquiring an additional 124,822 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after acquiring an additional 90,972 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on ULTA. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.8 %

ULTA opened at $350.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $529.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $377.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $8.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.