Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Price Target Cut to $412.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $438.00 to $412.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

ULTA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on 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. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $595.00 to $505.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $525.86.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA traded up $5.64 on Friday, hitting $381.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 969,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 709,590. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $368.02 and a 12-month high of $574.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $438.47 and a 200-day moving average of $470.35. The company has a market capitalization of $18.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.36.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 26.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ulta Beauty announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, March 14th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total transaction of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, 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 valued at $12,920,326 in the last quarter. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 201.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 4,134 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,762 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,471 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,044,000 after purchasing an additional 3,443 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at approximately $60,668,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $1,947,000. Institutional investors 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.