Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Reduces Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 35.6% during the 1st quarter, holding 22,084 shares worth approximately $8.1 million.
• Despite the trimming by some investors, other firms like Price T Rowe Associates Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. significantly increased their holdings in Ulta Beauty recently.
• Ulta Beauty's stock has shown positive momentum, recently trading at $533.81, and the company reported earnings per share of $6.70, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec trimmed its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 35.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,084 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 12,206 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $8,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 218.5% in the 1st quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 86 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.4% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 96 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Bank of America boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 price objective on Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $534.75.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 7.1%

Shares of ULTA traded down $37.90 on Friday, reaching $492.73. The stock had a trading volume of 2,938,427 shares, compared to its average volume of 676,046. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $498.99 and a 200 day moving average of $427.13. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $538.59.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.31%.The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.30 EPS. Ulta Beauty's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.