Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Given New $475.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $500.00 to $475.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.29% from the company’s current price.

ULTA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $438.00 price objective (down previously from $585.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $546.86.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $394.88 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $483.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $470.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.93 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.36. Ulta Beauty has a 52-week low of $368.02 and a 52-week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 26.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to purchase up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at $876,222.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 364.3% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 65 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 7,300.0% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 74 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Company Profile

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.