Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty by 72.9%, selling 113,945 shares in the first quarter, resulting in ownership of 42,352 shares valued at approximately $15.5 million.
• Ulta Beauty reported earnings of $5.78 per share for the latest quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations and achieving a revenue of $2.79 billion, marking a 9.3% increase year-over-year.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Ulta Beauty shares, with new estimates ranging from $575 to $640 following favorable quarterly results.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 72.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,352 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 113,945 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.09% of Ulta Beauty worth $15,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,255 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 115 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 307.3% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 10,660 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,636,000 after buying an additional 8,043 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 655,561 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $285,123,000 after acquiring an additional 9,291 shares during the period. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,074,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $364.00 to $386.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $605.00 price target (up from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $543.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA traded down $5.96 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $513.85. 699,584 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 892,568. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $539.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50-day moving average price is $505.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $434.13.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.30 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.