Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-four research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $459.22.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. B. Riley raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $366.36 on Monday. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $403.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $388.12.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,935 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $520,587,000 after purchasing an additional 11,205 shares during the period. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $430,674,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth $359,480,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 655,561 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $285,123,000 after purchasing an additional 9,291 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after purchasing an additional 31,540 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

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.