Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Acquires 116,345 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 291.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 156,297 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 116,345 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.34% of Ulta Beauty worth $67,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $5,257,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $348,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:ULTA traded down $1.67 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $384.78. 202,903 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,051,189. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $358.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $382.90. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The firm has a market cap of $17.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered 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. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

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.