Sit Investment Associates Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3.9%, holding 19,552 shares valued at approximately $7.17 million after selling 795 shares in the first quarter.
• Ulta Beauty reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 4.5% year-over-year revenue increase with total revenue of $2.85 billion.
• The stock price of Ulta Beauty decreased by 1.2% recently, with a current price range between a 52-week low of $309.01 and a high of $534.10.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,552 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 795 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.3% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 22,031 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $8,075,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth $5,128,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 174.5% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 123,977 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $45,365,000 after acquiring an additional 78,816 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.1% during the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 14,297 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $5,240,000 after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.7% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,153 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $5,538,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on ULTA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $542.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $437.00 price objective (up previously from $386.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday. One 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, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $475.17.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:ULTA traded down $5.18 on Friday, hitting $521.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 495,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 578,761. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.12. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $534.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $488.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $418.47.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.47 EPS. Ulta Beauty's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current 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.