Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 12,158 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 466,584 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after buying an additional 12,158 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.01% of Ulta Beauty worth $202,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ULTA. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 102.5% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 66,319 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $28,844,000 after acquiring an additional 33,564 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 362,507 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $157,665,000 after buying an additional 11,241 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 620 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Bank increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 2,124 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Sarl acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at $344,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on ULTA. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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 note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $405.00 to $365.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA traded down $4.28 on Monday, reaching $379.39. The company had a trading volume of 121,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,051,942. The stock has a market cap of $17.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $358.34 and its 200 day moving average is $382.79.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.