Nomura Holdings Inc. Trims Stock Position in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Nomura Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) by 25.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,176 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 5,808 shares during the quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ulta Beauty were worth $7,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 199.5% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,095 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 12,088 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $411.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.46, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $367.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $385.00. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $460.00.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ULTA. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $405.00 to $365.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $427.83.

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.