Liberty Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,512 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 4,811 shares during the quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jensen Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 17.9% in the third quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $793,000. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 31.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,014 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $6,231,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 100.0% during the third quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,556,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth $4,480,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ULTA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of ULTA stock traded down $12.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $360.44. 1,415,817 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 854,452. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The firm's 50-day moving average is $416.50 and its 200 day moving average is $386.35. The company has a market capitalization of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 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 up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share 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.