Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Up 0.8%

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) shot up 0.8% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $407.00 and last traded at $406.48. 249,629 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 936,296 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ULTA. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $356.00 target price (down previously from $404.00) on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Friday, August 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $368.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $409.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.31.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.02 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total value of $252,642.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 490.0% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 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.