Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Reduces Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,102 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $5,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,623 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,881,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,576 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 832 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hedeker Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Hedeker Wealth LLC now owns 7,010 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,049,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $363.89 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $407.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $387.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal 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.