State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Decreases Stock Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its position in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,588 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 749 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,092 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,190,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth approximately $395,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter worth approximately $201,000. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth approximately $306,000. Finally, J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 167.8% during the 2nd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 4,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,111,000 after buying an additional 2,828 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $517.66 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $531.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $477.34. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $572.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.85, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

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. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.