Analysts Set Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Target Price at $544.20

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $549.3333.

ULTA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $589.00 to $617.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.1%

ULTA opened at $549.28 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $528.22 and a 200 day moving average of $464.56. Ulta Beauty has a 52-week low of $309.01 and a 52-week high of $572.23. The stock has a market cap of $24.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty 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 transaction of $264,215.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $449,021,000 after buying an additional 688,267 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth $258,791,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $80,753,000 after purchasing an additional 216,089 shares during the last quarter. 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.