Loop Capital upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. Loop Capital currently has $540.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock.
Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on ULTA. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reissued a buy rating and set a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $587.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $583.00 to $612.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $575.45.
Read Our Latest Research Report on ULTA
Ulta Beauty Stock Up 1.8 %
ULTA stock opened at $452.78 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $525.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $466.21. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $368.02 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The company has a market cap of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.30.
Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 26.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.
Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty
In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the 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 directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty
A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 27.1% during the 1st quarter. Rowlandmiller & PARTNERS.ADV now owns 890 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,574,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 210.4% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,432,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.
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