UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target raised by UBS Group from $490.00 to $525.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $465.00 price objective (up from $435.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $315.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $454.04.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 11.4%

Shares of ULTA opened at $469.71 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $309.01 and a 12-month high of $491.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $384.70 and its 200 day moving average is $388.06. The stock has a market cap of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.73 by $0.97. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.47 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This trade represents a 10.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $430,674,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $449,021,000 after acquiring an additional 688,267 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $199,681,000 after acquiring an additional 454,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $162,565,000 after acquiring an additional 442,372 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.