Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Given “Hold” Rating at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group reiterated their hold rating on shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $438.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $585.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 2.7 %

ULTA opened at $413.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $511.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $467.62.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 26.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMI Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp now owns 104,196 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $54,482,000 after acquiring an additional 3,098 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 827 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2,299.0% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 18,928 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,897,000 after acquiring an additional 18,139 shares during the period. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,973 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,646,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Finally, Carret Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 98.8% during the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,339,000 after acquiring an additional 1,272 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

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.