Bank of Montreal Can Buys 16,338 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 14.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 131,798 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 16,338 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $51,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 490.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $544.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $385.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $425.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the company’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 directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $402.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $367.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $404.92. The stock has a market cap of $19.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.31. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 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.