Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,240 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 49 shares during the period. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Loop Capital upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 target price (down from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $548.05.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA traded down $5.20 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $404.84. 904,746 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 769,469. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $495.01 and a 200-day moving average of $469.79. The stock has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.