Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA Shares Sold by Wormser Freres Gestion

Wormser Freres Gestion reduced its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,095 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Ulta Beauty makes up approximately 3.9% of Wormser Freres Gestion’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. 111 Capital lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 371.2% during the second quarter. 111 Capital now owns 4,024 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,170 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 73.8% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,853 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $10,223,000 after buying an additional 9,282 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $556.45 on Monday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $562.11. The company has a market capitalization of $24.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $523.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $458.44.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.30 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ULTA. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $650.00 price target on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $584.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.17% 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.