Swiss National Bank Cuts Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Swiss National Bank lowered its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,100 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.29% of Ulta Beauty worth $57,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,480,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 382.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,163,000 after buying an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 1,052.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 8,218 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,198,000 after buying an additional 7,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on ULTA shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $431.13.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

ULTA stock opened at $357.48 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $544.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $385.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $386.80.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $8.08 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.