Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Receives $427.13 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $427.13.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ULTA shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $350.57 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $529.67. The firm has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $377.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $386.55.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $8.08 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,480,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 382.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,163,000 after buying an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,822,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1,052.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 8,218 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,198,000 after buying an additional 7,505 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.