Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Cut to $595.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective cut by Piper Sandler from $665.00 to $595.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

ULTA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $571.95.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ULTA opened at $454.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $524.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $466.60.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. The firm had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.68 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 26.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total transaction of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,344,096,000 after buying an additional 40,190 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,997,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,090,149,000 after buying an additional 27,840 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,580,071 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $774,220,000 after buying an additional 6,094 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,538,533 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $614,568,000 after buying an additional 556,809 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,100,246 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $599,089,000 after buying an additional 19,467 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.