Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 2,120 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 115,650 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 2,120 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.26% of Ulta Beauty worth $42,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 2,455 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 28,500 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $12,396,000 after buying an additional 7,851 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $88,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 658.1% during the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,721 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 1,494 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price target (up previously from $450.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, May 30th. 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 report on Friday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $327.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $462.22.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock traded up $1.40 on Wednesday, hitting $474.84. 642,978 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,042,575. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $491.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $431.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $400.74. The company has a market capitalization of $21.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.47 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current 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.