Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 760 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,634 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 760 shares during the period. Ulta Beauty comprises 1.1% of Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 199.5% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,021,000 after purchasing an additional 3,095 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,663,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $5,257,000 after purchasing an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $348,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

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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