Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Rating Increased to Neutral at B. Riley

B. Riley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $430.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $330.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $335.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $454.43.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $428.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $399.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $383.42. Ulta Beauty has a 52-week low of $318.17 and a 52-week high of $574.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 23.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,238,569 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $481,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,884 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,188,730 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $461,059,000 after buying an additional 10,153 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $237,519,000 after acquiring an additional 31,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 516,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $200,944,000 after acquiring an additional 65,000 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.