Oppenheimer Trims Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Target Price to $435.00

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target lowered by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $450.00 to $435.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 18.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $438.00 to $412.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $552.00 to $448.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.65.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $367.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $373.05 and its 200-day moving average is $427.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 25.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. 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

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 490.0% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.