GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases 991 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 49.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,012 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 31,791 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $12,700,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 816.0% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,986 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $614,568,000 after purchasing an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $1.46 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $394.55. 170,751 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 803,846. The firm has a market cap of $18.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $389.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $458.12. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $368.02 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.88 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $503.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Company 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.