Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,549 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 744 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after acquiring an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth about $73,069,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,074,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 364.6% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 159,053 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $69,177,000 after buying an additional 124,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 258.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after buying an additional 90,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $350.57 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $529.67. The company has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $377.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.17.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.