Commerce Bank Decreases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Commerce Bank reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 82.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,516 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 31,524 shares during the period. Commerce Bank's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,935 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $520,587,000 after purchasing an additional 11,205 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $199,681,000 after buying an additional 454,711 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 450,239 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $186,912,000 after acquiring an additional 74,013 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 319,938 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $139,151,000 after acquiring an additional 12,273 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $2.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $383.67. The company's stock had a trading volume of 593,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,022,596. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $460.00. The company has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $358.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $382.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $427.61.

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.