Todd Asset Management LLC Acquires 13,673 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Todd Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 37.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,452 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 13,673 shares during the period. Todd Asset Management LLC owned 0.10% of Ulta Beauty worth $24,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 price objective (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays lowered Ulta Beauty from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $612.00 to $434.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $548.05.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $397.39. The stock had a trading volume of 591,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 796,369. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $486.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $468.89.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.