Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Short Interest Down 13.6% in February

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,360,000 shares, a decline of 13.6% from the February 13th total of 2,730,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 949,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $340.89 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $531.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $378.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.19. The company has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $8.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $430,674,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter valued at approximately $359,480,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,681,000 after acquiring an additional 454,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after acquiring an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on ULTA. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $427.13.

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.