Duality Advisers LP Purchases New Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,774 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $1,849,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.4% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $578,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 248.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.1% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 20,886 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $8,343,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,242 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,694,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ULTA stock traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $419.27. 692,246 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 770,210. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The stock has a market cap of $20.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $507.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $469.06.

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

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $438.00 price objective (down from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday. Loop Capital upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $561.29.

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.