Ulta Beauty’s (ULTA) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson restated their buy rating on shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a $415.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on ULTA. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Ulta Beauty stock opened at $349.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.16. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $460.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $382.63.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ulta Beauty

In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 902 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.16, for a total value of $332,982.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,632 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,817,429.12. This represents a 10.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,635 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,193,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 50.3% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 5,086 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,979,000 after acquiring an additional 1,702 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,920 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $2,179,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.