Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Raised to $640.00 at Evercore ISI

Key Points

• Evercore ISI has raised its price target for Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.61% from the current price.
• Ulta Beauty reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $5.03 and reflecting a 9.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Thirteen analysts have given Ulta Beauty a Buy rating, while the overall consensus rating remains at "Hold" with a target price of $519.08.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by investment analysts at Evercore ISI from $595.00 to $640.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "outperform" rating on the specialty retailer's stock. Evercore ISI's price target would suggest a potential upside of 20.61% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ULTA. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $550.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ulta Beauty from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Barclays upgraded Ulta Beauty from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $518.00 to $589.00 in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $519.08.

Ulta Beauty Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $530.63 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $498.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $425.95. The stock has a market cap of $23.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.12. Ulta Beauty has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $538.59.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.45% and a return on equity of 49.73%. The company had revenue of $2.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.66 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.30 EPS. Ulta Beauty's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in 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 valued at $449,021,000 after buying an additional 688,267 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at $258,791,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 valued at $162,565,000 after purchasing an additional 442,372 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 81.7% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.8% in the first 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 last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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