Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Trading 2.1% Higher

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $404.63 and last traded at $402.03. 375,862 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 943,132 shares. The stock had previously closed at $393.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen cut Ulta Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “sell” rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $367.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $405.89. The stock has a market cap of $19.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.31.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 490.0% during 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 bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently 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.