Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Cut to $475.00

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at Oppenheimer from $500.00 to $475.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price suggests a potential upside of 22.27% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Barclays cut shares of Ulta Beauty from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $612.00 to $434.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $438.00 price objective (down from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $546.86.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $388.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $479.71 and a 200 day moving average of $470.48. Ulta Beauty has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $614,568,000 after acquiring an additional 556,809 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter worth $176,753,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 45,740.3% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 291,544 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $142,854,000 after buying an additional 290,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after buying an additional 260,740 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.