PGGM Investments Sells 11,692 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

PGGM Investments lowered its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 75.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,869 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 11,692 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $406.39 on Monday. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $368.02 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $500.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $469.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ULTA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $556.52.

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.