Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Ulta Beauty shares reached a new 52-week high of $526.70 following an upgrade by Oppenheimer, which raised the price target from $510.00 to $600.00, maintaining an outperform rating.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $6.70 EPS, exceeding estimates by $0.97, with revenue of $2.85 billion, which was also above expectations.
• Institutional investors hold a significant 90.39% of Ulta Beauty's stock, with notable increases in holdings from firms like Price T Rowe Associates and GAMMA Investing.

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $510.00 to $600.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Ulta Beauty traded as high as $523.75 and last traded at $526.70, with a volume of 134745 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $516.02.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ULTA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $315.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $490.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $327.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $437.00 price objective (up previously from $386.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $520.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $473.00.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $430,674,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 128.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,225,023 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $449,021,000 after purchasing an additional 688,267 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $258,791,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $199,681,000 after purchasing an additional 454,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 38,770.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 443,513 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $162,565,000 after purchasing an additional 442,372 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company's stock.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 2.8%

The company's fifty day moving average is $484.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $416.10. The stock has a market cap of $23.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 29th. The specialty retailer reported $6.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 10.45% and a return on equity of 49.73%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.47 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

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.

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