Running Oak Capital LLC Buys 2,005 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Running Oak Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 10.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,717 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 2,005 shares during the period. Running Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $10,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after buying an additional 556,809 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,658 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $229,947,000 after purchasing an additional 21,828 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $228,051,000 after purchasing an additional 33,508 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $263,192,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $199,596,000 after purchasing an additional 260,740 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock traded up $5.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $383.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,348,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,006,920. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $466.45. The firm has a market cap of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ULTA shares. Barclays cut Ulta Beauty from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $612.00 to $434.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Bank of America decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $425.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $507.30.

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.