Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment 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. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $426.08.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $475.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. HBW Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,478 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,817,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 10,216 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,443,000 after buying an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $348,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 0.3%

ULTA opened at $412.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $370.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $385.45. Ulta Beauty has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $460.00.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during 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%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.