Nomura Holdings Inc. Invests $2.43 Million in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,964 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $2,432,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ULTA. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $605.00 to $476.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.30.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA opened at $382.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $400.01 and a 200-day moving average of $468.49. The company has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.36. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.19 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.