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

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on ULTA. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $335.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $454.43.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $3.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $428.27. 1,817,524 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 939,103. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $399.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $383.42. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $19.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.07 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 16.6% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,392 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $7,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,619 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 65.9% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,022 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,867,000 after buying an additional 3,982 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth $525,000. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.7% during the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,328 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 45.9% in the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 162 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.