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

Key Points

• "Moderate Buy" consensus from 28 brokerages—15 buys, 11 holds, 1 sell and 1 strong buy—with an average 1-year price target of $626.84.
• Major institutions (Vanguard, State Street, Sanders Capital, Geode, T. Rowe Price) have recently increased positions, and 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Ulta beat recent quarterly estimates (EPS $5.14 vs. $4.61; revenue $2.86B vs. $2.70B); shares trade around $653.64 within a 52‑week range of $309.01–$714.97, with a market cap near $29B and a P/E of ~25.

Shares of Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $626.84.

ULTA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $732.00 target price on Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $700.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $680.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,376,848 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $3,253,047,000 after purchasing an additional 23,434 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,025,565 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,225,487,000 after buying an additional 50,305 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 8.9% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 1,263,820 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $690,994,000 after acquiring an additional 103,540 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,240,210 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $747,587,000 after acquiring an additional 21,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 974,223 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $589,415,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $653.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $663.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $582.51. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $714.97. The company has a market cap of $29.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.82.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.61 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 46.33% and a net margin of 9.93%.Ulta Beauty's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.14 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

Ulta Beauty, Inc NASDAQ: ULTA is a U.S.-based specialty retailer and beauty services provider focused on cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, hair care, bath and body, and beauty tools. The company operates a dual-format business that combines brick-and-mortar retail stores with an e-commerce platform, offering a broad assortment of national, prestige and mass-market brands alongside its own private-label products. In many locations Ulta also provides full-service salon treatments, positioning the company as a one-stop destination for product discovery and in-store services.

The retailer's product mix spans color cosmetics, haircare and styling products, skin and body care, fragrance, and accessories, catering to a wide range of consumer preferences and price points.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.