Analysts Set Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target at $507.30

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $507.30.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $498.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $522.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $438.00 to $412.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Ulta Beauty from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $612.00 to $434.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA opened at $383.85 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $396.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $466.55.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.19 by $0.28. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 25.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 364.3% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 19.2% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 18,898 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 54.9% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,717 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth approximately $1,357,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,913 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $228,051,000 after acquiring an additional 33,508 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.