Short Interest in Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Decreases By 20.1%

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the September 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,250,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ULTA. Barclays raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $395.00 to $390.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Raymond James cut Ulta Beauty from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $500.00 to $450.00 in a research report on Friday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $385.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $424.08.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Ulta Beauty stock traded up $11.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $370.58. 1,220,927 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,170. Ulta Beauty has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $369.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $391.68.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.02 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Quarry LP raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 104.1% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 100 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,002 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 255,014 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $124,954,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

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.