American International Group Inc. Sells 264 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

American International Group Inc. cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,834 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 264 shares during the period. American International Group Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 54,520 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,714,000 after buying an additional 13,324 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $11,163,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,002 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 104.1% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 100 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,371 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $8,512,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $438.00 to $412.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $605.00 to $476.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $507.30.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $378.40 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $397.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.27. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $368.02 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36.

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

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