Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 1,951 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,965 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $461,059,000 after acquiring an additional 10,153 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $237,519,000 after buying an additional 31,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 516,405 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $200,944,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 3.4 %

ULTA traded down $12.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $360.44. The company had a trading volume of 1,415,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 854,452. The stock has a market cap of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $416.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $386.35. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.