Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Ulta Beauty Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from 27 analysts, with varying recommendations including one sell, twelve holds, and thirteen buys.
• Recent price target increases from several firms have raised expectations, with estimates ranging from $600.00 to $625.00 per share.
• For its latest quarter, Ulta reported an EPS of $5.78, surpassing estimates, with revenue of $2.79 billion, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 9.3%.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $543.1250.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $585.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total transaction of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,195,837.09. This trade represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,165 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $545,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.7% in the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 153 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 3.0% during the second quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 834 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 6.8% during the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 375 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the second quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $521.89 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $508.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $436.33. The company has a market capitalization of $23.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.06. Ulta Beauty has a twelve month low of $309.01 and a twelve month high of $539.00.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The company had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.30 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast 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.

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