Geneva Capital Management LLC Sells 1,812 Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Geneva Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,855 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 1,812 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Ulta Beauty worth $24,919,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ULTA. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake 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 worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Ulta Beauty stock traded up $8.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $396.67. The company had a trading volume of 591,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 763,036. The firm has a market cap of $19.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $476.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $469.91. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.68 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.55 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan 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 plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $665.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $546.86.

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.