Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Sells 455,595 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Key Points

• Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board drastically reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty Inc. by 99.8%, now holding only 872 shares, following the sale of 455,595 shares during the first quarter.
• Majority of institutional investors have been actively trading Ulta Beauty stocks, with 90.39% of shares owned by such entities after recent adjustments in their positions.
• Ulta Beauty reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $6.70 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, alongside a revenue of $2.85 billion, showing a 4.5% growth year-over-year.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 99.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 872 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 455,595 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $320,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ULTA. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in 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 period. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 71.4% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 96 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $477.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $542.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $469.09.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock traded up $0.49 on Monday, reaching $498.70. 446,841 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 551,558. The company has a market capitalization of $22.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $523.68. The firm's 50-day moving average is $483.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $415.40.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.73 by $0.97. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. Ulta Beauty's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.47 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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.