Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 466,584 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 12,158 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.01% of Ulta Beauty worth $202,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 50.3% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,979,000 after buying an additional 1,702 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,920 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,179,000. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 12.4% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,589 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $3,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. B. Riley decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $427.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $378.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $17.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $357.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $382.25. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $460.00.

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

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.

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