Griffin Asset Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,230 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 134 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $4,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ULTA. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after acquiring an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth about $73,069,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 258.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 126,190 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,884,000 after purchasing an additional 90,972 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $415.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $407.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $385.47. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ULTA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $459.22.

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.