Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC has reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 12.5%, now owning approximately 0.35% of the company worth $58,296,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Cerity Partners LLC and Raymond James Financial Inc., have made changes to their holdings in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Ulta Beauty, with estimates ranging from $350 to $600, reflecting varying ratings from "underweight" to "buy".

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 159,043 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 22,654 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.35% of Ulta Beauty worth $58,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 7,118 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,146,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $259,000. Finally, Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 34,743 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $15,111,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $315.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $477.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $327.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $542.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $469.09.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $498.70 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $523.68. The company has a market cap of $22.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $483.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $415.40.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.47 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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.

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