Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,297 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 410 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Choreo LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $19,136,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,778 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Distillate Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth approximately $14,665,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ULTA. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets set a $385.00 price objective on Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $422.58.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA opened at $386.64 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $18.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $374.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $376.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.