KBC Group NV Acquires 22,392 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 305.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,726 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,392 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $11,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $365.17 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $380.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $379.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.71.

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.