Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $475.00 to $400.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 27.20% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $444.43.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 4.5 %

ULTA stock opened at $314.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $386.49 and a 200 day moving average of $386.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. Ulta Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $8.08 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 93,419 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,351,000 after acquiring an additional 9,863 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 49.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 1,159 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 111,909 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,907 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,855,000 after purchasing an additional 1,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.