Highland Capital Management LLC Sells 3,818 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Highland Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,243 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 3,818 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,092 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,190,000 after buying an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 52.4% during the 1st quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 160 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $220,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 394.1% during the 1st quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 42,236 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $15,481,000 after buying an additional 33,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 112.0% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,134 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ ULTA traded up $0.61 on Friday, hitting $458.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,372,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,045,928. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $491.98. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $427.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $400.30. The firm has a market cap of $20.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.90, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.09.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.47 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ULTA. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Loop Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $510.00 target price (up from $480.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $520.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $477.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $327.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $462.22.

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.