Ulta Beauty’s (ULTA) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Jefferies Financial Group

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA)‘s stock had its “hold” rating restated by Jefferies Financial Group in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $438.00 target price on the specialty retailer’s stock, down from their previous target price of $585.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.03% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $565.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $425.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $514.01 and a 200-day moving average of $467.55. The company has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a PE ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty has a one year low of $368.02 and a one year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. Analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 26.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 sold a total of 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Carret Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 98.8% in the 1st quarter. Carret Asset Management LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 71.1% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 91,284 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $47,730,000 after acquiring an additional 37,932 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.2% in the first quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 28,251 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $14,772,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $1,495,000. Finally, Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth $5,253,000. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

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.