Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Lowered to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on ULTA. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $435.00 to $505.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $439.30.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ULTA traded up $4.49 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $430.01. 1,446,135 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 982,076. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $384.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $379.44. Ulta Beauty has a 1-year low of $318.17 and a 1-year high of $574.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.32.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,556 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty during the third quarter worth approximately $212,000. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 12.4% during the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,589 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the last quarter. Rule One Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,179,000. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,920 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

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.