Evergreen Wealth Management LLC Buys 57 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Evergreen Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,448 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during 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. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,658 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $229,947,000 after buying an additional 21,828 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $228,051,000 after buying an additional 33,508 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 86.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 342,547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after acquiring an additional 158,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 40,166 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $548.05.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $397.39. The stock had a trading volume of 591,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 796,369. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $486.30 and a 200-day moving average of $470.17. The company has a market capitalization of $19.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.