Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Increases Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 71.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,284 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 37,932 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 0.19% of Ulta Beauty worth $47,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 47.7% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,052 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 127.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,004 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,683 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 38.9% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 561 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 15.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 293,126 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $117,089,000 after purchasing an additional 40,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 8.4% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 784 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock traded up $2.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $387.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 38,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 808,697. The stock has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.37. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $392.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $462.71.

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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ULTA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $394.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.