JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target lowered by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $800.00 to $750.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 40.00% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ULTA. Evercore boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $640.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $625.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Argus lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $671.27.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $535.72 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $323.36 and a fifty-two week high of $714.97. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $665.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $587.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.82.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The specialty retailer reported $8.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.93 by $0.08. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 44.44% and a net margin of 9.31%.The company had revenue of $3.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $8.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.050-28.550 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,376,848 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,253,047,000 after purchasing an additional 23,434 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,025,565 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,225,487,000 after buying an additional 50,305 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 1,263,820 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $690,994,000 after buying an additional 103,540 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,240,210 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $747,587,000 after buying an additional 21,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 974,223 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $589,415,000 after buying an additional 2,463 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Ulta Beauty

Here are the key news stories impacting Ulta Beauty this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 top-line beat — net sales rose ~11.8% to about $3.9B, driven by comps and new stores, showing resilient demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Digital momentum and new channels: Ulta cites AI-driven personalization boosting e‑commerce and is launching a curated assortment on TikTok Shop to reach younger customers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: FY2026 outlook shows growth but slower cadence — management guided to mid-single-digit sales growth (roughly 6–7%) and provided an EPS range; the plan signals continued growth but a deceleration from FY25. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts largely keep positive ratings but are trimming price targets after the print — many firms reaffirm buy/overweight while lowering targets to reflect the more cautious margin/advertising outlook. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Margin pressure from rising costs and higher SG&A — operating margin compressed as advertising, incentive compensation and strategic investments increased, squeezing EPS versus last year. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market disappointed by the forward profit signal — investors viewed the FY26 profit/same-store-sales targets and incremental spending as conservative or risk-increasing, triggering heavy selling and analyst target resets. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High-volume selloff and volatile sentiment — the post-earnings move has driven large intraday volume and rapid target revisions, increasing short-term downside risk despite longer-term bullish arguments. Read More.

About Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty, Inc (NASDAQ: ULTA) is a U.S.-based specialty retailer and beauty services provider focused on cosmetics, fragrance, skin care, hair care, bath and body, and beauty tools. The company operates a dual-format business that combines brick-and-mortar retail stores with an e-commerce platform, offering a broad assortment of national, prestige and mass-market brands alongside its own private-label products. In many locations Ulta also provides full-service salon treatments, positioning the company as a one-stop destination for product discovery and in-store services.

The retailer’s product mix spans color cosmetics, haircare and styling products, skin and body care, fragrance, and accessories, catering to a wide range of consumer preferences and price points.