Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 44.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,740 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 36,437 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Ulta Beauty worth $19,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $461,059,000 after purchasing an additional 10,153 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth about $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after acquiring an additional 31,540 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 450,239 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $186,912,000 after acquiring an additional 74,013 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the third 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $343.83 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $535.08. The firm has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $381.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $386.80.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the topic of several research reports. William Blair lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.13.

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.