Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets to Hold Rating

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was upgraded by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $750.00 to $631.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group set a $631.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $560.00 to $580.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Argus set a $550.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $725.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $624.57.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $535.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $22.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $512.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $525.00. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $443.60 and a 1 year high of $714.97.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 27th. The specialty retailer reported $6.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.22 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.99 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 45.40% and a net margin of 9.34%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.78 earnings per share. Ulta Beauty has set its FY 2026 guidance at 28.700-29.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 28.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ulta Beauty

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director George R. Mrkonic, Jr. sold 383 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.84, for a total value of $182,246.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,143,919.36. The trade was a 13.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 43,592.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 29,433,210 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $13,273,789,000 after acquiring an additional 29,365,845 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the second quarter valued at about $1,815,712,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,025,565 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,225,487,000 after purchasing an additional 50,305 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 52,171.0% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,474,042 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $77,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 21,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

About Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty, Inc is a specialty beauty retailer operating under the Ulta Beauty brand. The company sells a broad selection of cosmetics, skincare, haircare, fragrance, bath and body products, and beauty tools across a range of price points. Its merchandise includes both established brands and private-label products, as well as prestige, mass-market and professional beauty offerings.

In addition to retail sales, Ulta Beauty provides services through salon locations within many of its stores, including hair, skin and brow services.