Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a sell rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $431.30, but opened at $450.02. Ulta Beauty shares last traded at $445.54, with a volume of 449,700 shares trading hands.

ULTA has been the topic of a number of other reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. William Blair cut Ulta Beauty from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $454.43.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Choreo LLC boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 71.7% during the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 2,868 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,198 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,136,000. Jensen Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jensen Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,330 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,665,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the third quarter worth approximately $793,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $19.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $399.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $383.42.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The business had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.07 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.