Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,612 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 843 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,509 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,129,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,539 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,104,000 after purchasing an additional 4,729 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 2,742 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,344,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 27,926 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,684,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $500.00 to $450.00 in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $402.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.18 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.31. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $368.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $407.97.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.