Geode Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,199,935 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after acquiring an additional 11,205 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.59% of Ulta Beauty worth $520,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,653,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,242 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $17,502,000 after buying an additional 4,952 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 73,137 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $31,809,000 after buying an additional 15,258 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,453.8% during the 4th quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 1,347 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 166.2% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 2,947 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $427.61.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $8.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $359.36. The company had a trading volume of 1,531,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,046,706. The firm has a market cap of $16.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $460.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $369.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.89.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.