State of Michigan Retirement System Sells 100 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

State of Michigan Retirement System cut its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,953 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $8,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 120.2% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 14,448 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,079,000 after purchasing an additional 7,887 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 347.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $35,061,000 after buying an additional 55,508 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $1,810,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 27,037 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,248,000 after buying an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Finally, Warther Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $6,023,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on ULTA shares. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a report on Friday, March 15th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of ULTA traded up $8.61 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $393.02. 749,202 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 814,338. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $368.02 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $391.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $461.93. The company has a market cap of $18.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.19 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.88 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current year.

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