Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Lowered to $505.00 at Piper Sandler

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $595.00 to $505.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the specialty retailer's stock. Piper Sandler's price objective indicates a potential upside of 30.66% from the stock's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on ULTA. Loop Capital raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $540.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $438.00 price objective (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $350.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $535.45.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of ULTA traded down $13.06 on Monday, reaching $386.50. 1,015,903 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 755,451. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $455.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $471.68. Ulta Beauty has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.68 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 26.42 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the company's 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 approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 in the last ninety days. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.