HM Payson & Co. Purchases New Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

HM Payson & Co. acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 226 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $88,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $472.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Ulta Beauty in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $377.65 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $376.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $381.69. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current 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.