Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Short Interest Down 13.6% in March

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,040,000 shares, a drop of 13.6% from the February 28th total of 2,360,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 998,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total transaction of $332,982.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,817,429.12. The trade was a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ULTA. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter worth approximately $268,000. Rempart Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Rempart Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,975 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $14,286,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 35.6% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 118 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter worth about $668,000. Finally, Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth about $6,565,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $382.51 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $474.12. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $371.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $386.30. The company has a market capitalization of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $8.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ULTA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. B. Riley lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $427.61.

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.