Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target to $350.00

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective cut by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $450.00 to $350.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 14.22% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $535.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James dropped 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six 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, Ulta Beauty presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $556.52.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

NASDAQ:ULTA opened at $408.01 on Wednesday. Ulta Beauty has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $502.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $468.22.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 26.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nvwm LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 72 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.3% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 2,828 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Nkcfo LLC increased its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Nkcfo LLC now owns 183 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.