Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Short Interest Up 39.8% in August

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,230,000 shares, a growth of 39.8% from the August 15th total of 2,310,000 shares. Currently, 6.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total transaction of $39,008.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jodi J. Caro sold 650 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $388.68, for a total transaction of $252,642.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,643,412.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.39% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $263,192,000. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $176,753,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 177.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 407,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,596,000 after acquiring an additional 260,740 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 210.4% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 271,550 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $141,988,000 after acquiring an additional 184,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ulta Beauty by 87.3% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 337,882 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $130,380,000 after acquiring an additional 157,497 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $438.00 to $412.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $552.00 to $448.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $507.00 to $435.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $425.29.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of ULTA stock opened at $378.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $368.16 and a 200-day moving average of $413.28. Ulta Beauty has a 12-month low of $318.17 and a 12-month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The specialty retailer reported $5.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.47 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.61 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.21 EPS for the current year.

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.