Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $300.00 to $350.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 18.26% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ULTA. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. William Blair cut Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $438.00.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $428.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.32. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $318.17 and a 52 week high of $574.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $374.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $376.64.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.07 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth $32,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 151.5% in the third 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. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 118.4% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 83 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.