Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $1.85 Million Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Patten & Patten Inc. TN reduced its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 43.4%, owning 3,943 shares worth approximately $1.85 million after selling 3,024 shares in the second quarter.
• Ulta Beauty reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $5.78, exceeding analyst expectations of $5.03, with revenues of $2.79 billion, a year-over-year increase of 9.3%.
• Several analysts have recently raised their price targets for Ulta Beauty, with JPMorgan setting a new target of $600, while UBS raised theirs to $680, indicating strong market confidence in the stock.

Patten & Patten Inc. TN cut its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 43.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,943 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 3,024 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,845,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 142.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 68 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 218.5% during 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. Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $537.29 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $530.46 and its 200-day moving average is $468.69. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.30 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $550.38.

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.

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