Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $542.00 to $600.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Ulta Beauty traded as high as $523.75 and last traded at $526.70, with a volume of 134745 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $516.02.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $510.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 25th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $520.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $364.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $473.00.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $28,146,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $259,000. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,684,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $77,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $487.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $417.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.73 by $0.97. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.