Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 577 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 11.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,739 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,215,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 93.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 134,954 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $66,126,000 after purchasing an additional 65,225 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,227 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 72.2% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 2,562 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $329,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,945 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $953,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $372.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $17.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $368.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $415.84. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ULTA shares. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $552.00 to $448.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $425.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

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