BDF Gestion Acquires New Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

BDF Gestion bought a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 5,750 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,237,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 32.5% during the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 102 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 478 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the second quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 525 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 2.9% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 993 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.8% during the first quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 1,040 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $435.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $423.67.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $0.59 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $368.73. 712,424 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 957,709. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $17.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $370.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $389.74.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS 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 company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.