Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. lowered its stake in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,849 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 49 shares during the period. Ulta Beauty comprises 1.8% of Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $1,886,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake 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 purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $665.00 to $595.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James reduced 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of ULTA stock traded down $8.67 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $410.60. 236,129 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 763,143. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $507.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $469.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign 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.