Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $382.77, but opened at $362.67. Ulta Beauty shares last traded at $373.29, with a volume of 322,027 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ULTA. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ulta Beauty from $375.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $430.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $420.71.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 2.5 %

The company has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $380.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $379.67.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 180,713.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,237,884 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth approximately $359,480,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 14.1% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 620,793 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $239,545,000 after buying an additional 76,721 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after buying an additional 31,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 14.4% in the third quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 516,405 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $200,944,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. 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.