Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,829 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $6,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 478 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 525 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 695 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ULTA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $393.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $377.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $380.63. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.33.

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