CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Invests $861,000 in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,647 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $861,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 120.2% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 14,448 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,079,000 after acquiring an additional 7,887 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 347.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $35,061,000 after acquiring an additional 55,508 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $1,810,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 27,037 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Finally, Warther Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $6,023,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $383.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $396.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $466.45.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ULTA. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $507.30.

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.