Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Acquires 50,563 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 145.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,272 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 50,563 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned about 0.18% of Ulta Beauty worth $33,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $134,737,000 after buying an additional 335,914 shares during the last quarter. Atreides Management LP bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,069,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 87.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $130,380,000 after acquiring an additional 157,497 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ULTA. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $442.00 to $476.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $439.30.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA traded up $18.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $430.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,327,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 983,625. The company has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.33. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The company's 50-day moving average is $375.39 and its 200-day moving average is $377.13.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $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 analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.48 EPS 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.