Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Takes Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 479 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 118.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 151.5% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 4.2 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $422.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $404.52 and a 200 day moving average of $384.77. The company has a market capitalization of $19.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $318.17 and a 12 month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ULTA. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair downgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $459.22.

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.