Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,031 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 3,935 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.07% of Ulta Beauty worth $14,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 170.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,141 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 5.2% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,556 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth $212,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co boosted its stake in 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 worth $3,731,000 after buying an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Finally, Rule One Partners LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at $2,179,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ULTA. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $460.30.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA traded down $13.13 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $415.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 776,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 906,652. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $401.20 and a 200 day moving average of $383.86. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.07 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.