Analysts Set Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target at $497.61

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $494.83.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $540.00 to $500.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $394.00 to $355.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,643,412.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $176,753,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after acquiring an additional 260,740 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 210.4% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 271,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $141,988,000 after acquiring an additional 184,060 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 87.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $130,380,000 after acquiring an additional 157,497 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $320.55 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $318.17 and a 1 year high of $574.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $378.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $439.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.37.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.13% and a return on equity of 58.06%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 25.65 EPS 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.