Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $459.22.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ULTA. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. B. Riley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,409,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth about $793,000. Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,014 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $6,231,000 after purchasing an additional 3,791 shares during the last quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 4,000 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,480,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ ULTA opened at $408.14 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $414.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $385.83. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty 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.