Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Acquires 184,060 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 210.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 271,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 184,060 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $141,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $2,432,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $943,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $43,715,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 26,323 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $12,898,000 after purchasing an additional 7,425 shares during the period. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 835 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $6.56 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $382.59. 778,570 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,046,269. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $400.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $468.49. The firm has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.19 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.30.

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.