Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Receives $459.22 Average PT from Analysts

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-four research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $459.22.

Several research analysts have commented on ULTA shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair cut shares of Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Keynote Financial Services LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Keynote Financial Services LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 2,856 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Motco increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Motco now owns 19,734 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $8,583,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth approximately $311,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock opened at $410.67 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty has a one year low of $318.17 and a one year high of $574.76. The stock has a market cap of $19.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $416.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.06.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.07 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.