Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lowered its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 712 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 62 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 118.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.13.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.9 %

ULTA stock opened at $359.47 on Friday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $529.67. The company has a market cap of $16.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $373.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.22.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $8.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.