Morgan Stanley Cuts Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target to $460.00

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $500.00 to $460.00 in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. William Blair downgraded Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $431.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $357.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50-day moving average is $385.01 and its 200-day moving average is $386.94. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $544.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth $4,480,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 382.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,163,000 after acquiring an additional 8,481 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 11.2% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,531 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1,052.6% in the third quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 8,218 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,505 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by 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.