Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Sold by Boston Trust Walden Corp

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp has reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty by 33.7%, now holding 16,402 shares valued at approximately $7.67 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have adjusted their positions, with ORG Partners LLC increasing its holdings by 17.7% in the second quarter.
• Ulta Beauty reported a 9.3% increase in revenue year-over-year for the quarter, reaching $2.79 billion, and surpassed EPS expectations by $0.75.

Boston Trust Walden Corp cut its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 33.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,402 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 8,331 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.7% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 153 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.0% in the second quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 834 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.8% in the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 375 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.6% in the first quarter. Wambolt & Associates LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 32.5% in the first quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $538.49 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $572.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $529.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $467.51. The company has a market capitalization of $24.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.30 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Ulta Beauty from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $605.00 target price (up previously from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $549.33.

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.

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