Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other research analysts have also commented on ULTA. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $385.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen cut Ulta Beauty from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $395.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $325.00 to $300.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $435.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $379.13 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $368.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $399.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,364 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 443 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 36,908 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $18,085,000 after buying an additional 2,040 shares during the period. Relative Value Partners Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $207,000. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $4,859,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $390,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

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.