William Blair Downgrades Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) to Market Perform

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was downgraded by William Blair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on ULTA. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $338.38 on Thursday. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $376.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $377.41. The company has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.33.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.68% and a return on equity of 54.02%. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.02 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $481,952,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth $359,480,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. Atreides Management LP acquired a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at $73,069,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 87.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $130,380,000 after purchasing an additional 157,497 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.