Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Trading Up 6.3% After Analyst Upgrade

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was up 6.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $589.00 to $617.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Ulta Beauty traded as high as $523.98 and last traded at $523.67. Approximately 796,624 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 10% from the average daily volume of 884,400 shares. The stock had previously closed at $492.73.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ulta Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $364.00 to $386.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $536.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Lido Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 626 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $398,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 22,194 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,653,000 after purchasing an additional 3,605 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $2,799,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,255 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $500.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $429.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.03 by $0.75. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 48.78%. The business had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.