Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price Down 2.9%

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA)’s share price was down 2.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $391.95 and last traded at $392.27. Approximately 423,595 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 947,577 shares. The stock had previously closed at $404.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $368.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $401.69.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Choreo LLC increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 71.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 120.2% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 14,448 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,079,000 after buying an additional 7,887 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 92.8% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 7,278 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,806,000 after acquiring an additional 3,504 shares during the last quarter. Broad Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,412,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10.2% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 89,799 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $46,954,000 after purchasing an additional 8,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.