Brokerages Set Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Target Price at $420.71

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-four research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $420.71.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ULTA. Bank of America dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $300.00 price objective on the stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $353.35 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $16.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $379.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $378.71.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.02 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $461,059,000 after acquiring an additional 10,153 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,480,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 620,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $239,545,000 after purchasing an additional 76,721 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $237,519,000 after buying an additional 31,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.