Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Lowers Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 48.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 64,675 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 61,515 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.14% of Ulta Beauty worth $23,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 121.4% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth $37,000. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 36.9% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 115 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 35.6% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 118 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA traded down $3.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $459.17. The company had a trading volume of 673,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,044,616. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $402.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $394.80. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $491.98. The company has a market capitalization of $20.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.09.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. The firm had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $327.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $477.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned 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 $460.91.

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.