Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Short Interest Update

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 19.4% from the October 15th total of 2,060,000 shares. Currently, 5.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

NASDAQ ULTA traded down $17.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $365.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,440,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 962,623. The stock has a market cap of $17.21 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $380.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $379.67. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76.

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

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ULTA. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $435.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $550.00 to $505.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $522.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $328.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $426.00 to $424.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $420.71.

About Ulta Beauty

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.