Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 321 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,322 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 321 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.19% of Ulta Beauty worth $44,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 20.9% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 15,756 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 35.6% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,713 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,081,000 after acquiring an additional 2,025 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 10.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 72,415 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,926,000 after acquiring an additional 7,098 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,261,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $479,000. 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 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last quarter. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $548.05.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $397.39 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $19.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $486.30 and a 200 day moving average of $470.17. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $368.02 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Ulta Beauty

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.