Carret Asset Management LLC Purchases 225 Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. $ULTA

Carret Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,311 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $2,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 295.6% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 178 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $231,000. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Motco grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the second quarter. Motco now owns 22,396 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $11,534,000 after buying an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Finally, Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 7.3% during the second quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $600,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $650.00 to $653.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $550.38.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.5%

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $506.07 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty Inc. has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23. The company has a market cap of $22.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $531.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $480.61.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.