Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Upgraded at StockNews.com

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Barclays upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $300.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James cut shares of Ulta Beauty from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $500.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $404.01 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a twelve month low of $318.17 and a twelve month high of $574.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $368.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $404.91. The stock has a market cap of $19.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.31.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 620,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $239,545,000 after purchasing an additional 76,721 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 47.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 476,027 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $246,862,000 after buying an additional 153,727 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 422,801 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $163,149,000 after buying an additional 24,822 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.2% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 357,503 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $186,933,000 after buying an additional 4,344 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 26.4% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 356,128 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $137,419,000 after acquiring an additional 74,319 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently 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.