Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $366.54, but opened at $377.00. Ulta Beauty shares last traded at $369.60, with a volume of 107,149 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $384.00 to $423.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.3 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $371.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $386.30. The company has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 63.2% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,380 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,704,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $812,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 913.9% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $284,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 1,594 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 31,587 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $12,291,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by 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.