Whittier Trust Co. Grows Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1,258.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,527 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,120 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $263,192,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 177.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after buying an additional 260,740 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth $176,753,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 45,740.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 291,544 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $142,854,000 after acquiring an additional 290,908 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Bank of America cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $425.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.0 %

ULTA opened at $396.01 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $389.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $458.12. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The stock has a market cap of $18.90 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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