Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $436.83.

ULTA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $176,753,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $199,596,000 after buying an additional 260,740 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 210.4% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 271,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $141,988,000 after buying an additional 184,060 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 87.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $130,380,000 after buying an additional 157,497 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $352.84 on Monday. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $372.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $425.38. The firm has a market cap of $16.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.91%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.02 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.03 EPS for the current 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.