Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $450.00 to $457.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.08% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on ULTA. William Blair lowered shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $458.78.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $415.14 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $400.28 and a 200 day moving average of $383.64. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.07 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after buying an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $73,069,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 87.3% during 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 in the last quarter. 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.