Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its target price decreased by equities researchers at Barclays from $445.00 to $327.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential downside of 8.53% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. B. Riley cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $431.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $357.48 on Friday. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $309.01 and a 1 year high of $544.36. The company has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a PE ratio of 14.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $385.01 and its 200 day moving average is $386.80.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.08 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $6,565,000. Berkeley Inc raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 75.8% during the 4th quarter. Berkeley Inc now owns 10,440 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,541,000 after buying an additional 4,501 shares during the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1,015.9% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 11,851 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $5,154,000 after buying an additional 10,789 shares during the last quarter. GHE LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. GHE LLC now owns 4,076 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $123,000. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.