Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,769 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 570 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned about 0.06% of Ulta Beauty worth $12,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after acquiring an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,069,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after purchasing an additional 90,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 33.9% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 321,605 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $125,143,000 after purchasing an additional 81,414 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $361.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $408.88 and a 200-day moving average of $386.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty 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.