Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 93.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,157 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 2,487 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 1,260 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 2,852 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.3% in the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.9% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 491 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,828 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,386,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $570.70.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $5.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $442.32. The stock had a trading volume of 487,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,171,099. The stock has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $520.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.73. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ulta Beauty

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.