Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the twenty-four brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $459.22.

ULTA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $460.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, B. Riley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 55.1% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 214 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $652,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 86.2% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $742,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Finally, Littlejohn Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,038,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 1.9 %

ULTA stock traded up $7.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $418.53. 554,991 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 792,478. Ulta Beauty has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $411.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $385.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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.