Heron Bay Capital Management Trims Holdings in Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Heron Bay Capital Management lowered its position in Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Ulta Beauty accounts for approximately 3.1% of Heron Bay Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Heron Bay Capital Management’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $15,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $449,021,000 after acquiring an additional 688,267 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,639 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $298,231,000 after purchasing an additional 79,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 582,635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,568,000 after purchasing an additional 30,100 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ULTA. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $605.00 price target (up from $580.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 3.9%

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $515.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $530.13 and a 200 day moving average of $496.31. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $572.23.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during 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 business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 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.