Brokerages Set Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target at $427.17

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $427.17.

A number of research firms have recently commented on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. B. Riley reduced 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $384.00 to $423.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $405.00 to $365.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.0%

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $0.15 on Friday, hitting $412.23. The stock had a trading volume of 598,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,052,045. The company's 50-day moving average is $365.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $384.63. Ulta Beauty has a one year low of $309.01 and a one year high of $460.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G 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, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.08 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $430,674,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at about $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% in the fourth 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. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.