Brokerages Set Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target at $544.20

Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $549.2083.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Argus upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $570.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, August 29th.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $561.15 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $527.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $462.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.08. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $572.23.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.30 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. The trade was a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $449,021,000 after buying an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter worth about $258,791,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5,117.0% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 220,312 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $80,753,000 after buying an additional 216,089 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

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.