Wealth Alliance Has $702,000 Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Wealth Alliance grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,433 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Prudential PLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $425,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,344,096,000 after purchasing an additional 40,190 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.8% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,305,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 38.6% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,117 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 59.1% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ULTA. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $424.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $515.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $467.84.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Ulta Beauty

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.