Highland Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Highland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,650 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $10,118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 125.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,530,543 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $717,932,000 after buying an additional 852,258 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $207,721,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,146,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,236,208 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,993,538,000 after purchasing an additional 367,437 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ULTA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $440.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.81.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

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

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA stock opened at $513.52 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.94 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a fifty day moving average of $524.24 and a 200-day moving average of $461.40.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Ulta Beauty Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc operate specialty retail stores selling cosmetics, fragrance, haircare and skincare products, and related accessories and services in the United States. It offers broad assortment of branded and private label beauty products including cosmetics, fragrance, haircare, skincare, bath and body products, professional hair products, and salon styling tools; and salon services, including hair, skin, makeup, and brow services, as well as nail services.