Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 63,343 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 14,431 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.14% of Ulta Beauty worth $27,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 199.5% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,021,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $348,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $359.47 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $529.67. The stock has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $373.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.31.

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

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.