Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys New Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 452 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,344,096,000 after buying an additional 40,190 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,997,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,090,149,000 after buying an additional 27,840 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,530,543 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $717,932,000 after purchasing an additional 852,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100,246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,089,000 after purchasing an additional 19,467 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $450.95 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $368.02 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $21.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $523.00 and its 200 day moving average is $466.49.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.68 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Loop Capital raised Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $665.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.70.

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.