Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Lowered to $350.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $450.00 to $350.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an underweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a hold rating and set a $438.00 price target (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $600.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $556.52.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $410.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $505.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $468.65. Ulta Beauty has a twelve month low of $368.02 and a twelve month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to repurchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after acquiring an additional 556,809 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 575,658 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $229,947,000 after acquiring an additional 21,828 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $228,051,000 after acquiring an additional 33,508 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth approximately $263,192,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $199,596,000 after acquiring an additional 260,740 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.