TCW Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

TCW Group Inc. reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 158,239 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 27,393 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. owned 0.33% of Ulta Beauty worth $77,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.5% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,147 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,599 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,237,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 25.9% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 1,970 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $787,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $506,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock traded down $2.19 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $376.14. 848,862 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 758,382. The firm has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.36. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $441.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $470.38. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.68 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.43 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $475.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $535.45.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. 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 90 days. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.