Oppenheimer Trims Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Target Price to $475.00

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $500.00 to $475.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 22.27% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ULTA. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $574.00 to $627.00 in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $546.86.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $388.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $479.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $470.48. Ulta Beauty has a 1-year low of $368.02 and a 1-year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Vima LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 490.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. 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.