Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 30,173 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Bridgewater Associates LP lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 48.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,315 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 30,173 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $12,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $375.25 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $374.43 and a 200 day moving average of $376.67. The stock has a market cap of $17.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.33. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 23rd. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.71.

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.