Stephens Inc. AR Sells 2,508 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 13.7% during the second quarter, selling 2,508 shares and holding 15,762 shares valued at approximately $7.37 million.
• Several hedge funds made significant changes to their positions in Ulta Beauty, including Balboa Wealth Partners purchasing a new stake worth $272,000 and Chicago Partners Investment Group increasing its stake by 57.1%.
• Analysts are optimistic about Ulta Beauty, with multiple firms raising their price targets, resulting in a consensus target price of $550.38 and a majority rating of "Moderate Buy."

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 13.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,762 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 2,508 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Balboa Wealth Partners bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth $272,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 57.1% during the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,227 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the second quarter valued at about $38,595,000. Citizens Business Bank raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 4.3% in the second quarter. Citizens Business Bank now owns 7,012 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $3,280,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.3% in the second quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,482 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $6,759,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Argus upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $570.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Bank of America increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $523.72 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $572.23. The stock has a market cap of $23.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $531.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $472.27.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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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