Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Trading Down 0.8%

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)’s share price traded down 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $369.49 and last traded at $369.49. 161,815 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 932,112 shares. The stock had previously closed at $372.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $530.00 to $544.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.1 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $368.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $415.84. The company has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.31.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $176,753,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after acquiring an additional 260,740 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 210.4% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 271,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $141,988,000 after acquiring an additional 184,060 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 87.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $130,380,000 after acquiring an additional 157,497 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.