IFM Investors Pty Ltd Cuts Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,873 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 179 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $3,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $373.30 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $376.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $384.10. The company has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.32. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.