Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 4,278 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 89.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 480 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 4,278 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,480,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 382.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,163,000 after purchasing an additional 8,481 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 11.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,822,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1,052.6% during the third quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 8,218 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,198,000 after buying an additional 7,505 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 13.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $357.48 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $544.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $385.01 and a 200-day moving average of $386.94.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ULTA. B. Riley decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $431.13.

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.