Headlands Technologies LLC Takes $446,000 Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 910 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $614,568,000 after buying an additional 556,809 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,658 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $229,947,000 after purchasing an additional 21,828 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $228,051,000 after purchasing an additional 33,508 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 86.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 342,547 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $136,451,000 after purchasing an additional 158,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 293,126 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $117,089,000 after purchasing an additional 40,166 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. 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 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ULTA shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $665.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $556.52.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Ulta Beauty stock traded down $1.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $406.39. The stock had a trading volume of 637,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,044,163. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $500.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $468.35.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.68 earnings per share. 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 of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.