Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after TD Cowen lowered their price target on the stock from $580.00 to $520.00. The stock had previously closed at $425.11, but opened at $413.83. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Ulta Beauty shares last traded at $415.94, with a volume of 112,565 shares traded.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ULTA. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $656.00 to $635.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ulta Beauty from $575.00 to $625.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $561.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ulta Beauty news, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total value of $1,629,325.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,705 shares in the company, valued at $1,420,801.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $526.26, for a total value of $263,130.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anita Jane Ryan sold 3,102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.25, for a total transaction of $1,629,325.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,420,801.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock worth $12,920,326. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ULTA. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 1st quarter valued at $425,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,344,096,000 after buying an additional 40,190 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 8,299 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,117 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 59.1% during the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 70 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $514.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $467.55. The company has a market cap of $19.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.30.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The specialty retailer reported $8.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.49 by $0.59. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 61.64%. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.68 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 26.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, March 14th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty retailer to buy up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.