Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,413 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 133 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $353.35 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $379.50 and a 200 day moving average of $378.71. The company has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $420.71.

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.