Bayesian Capital Management LP Purchases New Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,554 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $3,720,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $430,674,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,681,000 after buying an additional 454,711 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $58,074,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.6% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 159,053 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,177,000 after acquiring an additional 124,822 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $384.00 to $423.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.17.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $395.81 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $460.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $361.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $383.45.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $8.08 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

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.