First Hawaiian Bank Raises Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,835 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $3,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $382.59 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $398.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $467.89.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.88 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current year.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.30.

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.