Ulta Beauty's (ULTA) "Outperform" Rating Reiterated at Raymond James

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Raymond James in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $500.00 price target on the specialty retailer's stock, up from their prior price target of $450.00. Raymond James' price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.45% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $315.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $425.00 price target (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $454.04.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

ULTA stock traded up $47.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $469.71. 4,593,456 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,051,937. Ulta Beauty has a 1-year low of $309.01 and a 1-year high of $491.98. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $384.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $388.06. The firm has a market cap of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.73 by $0.97. The business had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $430,674,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 128.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $449,021,000 after purchasing an additional 688,267 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $199,681,000 after purchasing an additional 454,711 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $162,565,000 after purchasing an additional 442,372 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

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.