Zacks Research Has Weak Outlook for Ulta Beauty Q2 Earnings

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Zacks Research lowered their Q2 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report issued on Wednesday, June 18th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the specialty retailer will post earnings per share of $4.79 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $4.87. The consensus estimate for Ulta Beauty's current full-year earnings is $23.96 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Ulta Beauty's Q3 2026 earnings at $4.22 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $5.29 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $6.83 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $28.66 EPS.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $2.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 49.73% and a net margin of 10.45%. The business's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.47 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $364.00 to $386.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $542.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $510.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $465.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $462.22.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of ULTA opened at $473.46 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $491.98. The firm has a market cap of $21.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.49, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $412.63 and a 200-day moving average of $397.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 28.7% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 166 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,973 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 26.4% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 73,137 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $31,809,000 after acquiring an additional 15,258 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 10,857 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $4,722,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 92.1% in the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 2,157 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $939,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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