Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Argus upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Argus now has a $570.00 price target on the stock. Ulta Beauty traded as high as $540.00 and last traded at $536.65, with a volume of 39833 shares. The stock had previously closed at $535.61.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $575.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $544.20.

Insider Activity at Ulta Beauty

In other news, Director Mike C. Smith sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $528.43, for a total value of $264,215.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,263 shares in the company, valued at $1,195,837.09. This represents a 18.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caldwell Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth about $78,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth about $275,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 22.0% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 39,422 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $18,442,000 after buying an additional 7,113 shares during the last quarter. Stance Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth about $3,809,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter worth about $479,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $517.83 and its 200-day moving average is $448.02. The firm has a market cap of $24.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.06.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 28th. The specialty retailer reported $5.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current 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.