First Hawaiian Bank Decreases Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

First Hawaiian Bank reduced its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,723 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 112 shares during the quarter. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 38.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 335 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $129,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $282,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 214,653 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $109,906,000 after purchasing an additional 32,468 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 47.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 476,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $246,862,000 after acquiring an additional 153,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 64,588 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $33,772,000 after buying an additional 10,068 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ULTA. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $605.00 to $476.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $425.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $544.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $13.73 during trading on Monday, reaching $327.28. 1,026,534 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 820,816. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $385.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $445.65. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $326.93 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.19 by $0.28. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty 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.