Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Ulta Beauty's short interest fell by 21.1% in August, reaching a total of 1,760,000 shares as of August 31st.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Ulta Beauty, with estimates ranging from $425 to $600, reflecting a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Ulta Beauty reported strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $5.78 beating the consensus estimate of $5.03, along with a year-over-year revenue increase of 9.3%.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,760,000 shares, a decrease of 21.1% from the August 15th total of 2,230,000 shares. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 734,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 734,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 3.9% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 2nd quarter worth $258,791,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,600 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $334,871,000 after purchasing an additional 410,900 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 931,557 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $341,453,000 after purchasing an additional 366,147 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of ULTA stock traded down $13.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $521.47. 1,150,760 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 888,832. The firm has a market cap of $23.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $514.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $443.18. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $539.00.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 48.78% and a net margin of 10.31%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ULTA. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $543.13.

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.