Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Decreases Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD trimmed its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 536,756 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after selling 28,404 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 1.16% of Ulta Beauty worth $233,452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,663,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $348,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.0 %

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $4.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $391.59. The stock had a trading volume of 155,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,050,377. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $460.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's 50 day moving average is $360.02 and its 200 day moving average is $383.04.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ULTA. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $427.17.

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.