DA Davidson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at DA Davidson from $510.00 to $415.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 17.43% from the stock’s previous close.

ULTA has been the subject of several other research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $385.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $500.00 to $538.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $380.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $437.48.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock traded up $38.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $353.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,403,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,039,227. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $386.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $386.82. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $309.01 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $8.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $430,674,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty during the 3rd quarter worth $359,480,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth $239,432,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Ulta Beauty by 10,336.7% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 459,110 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $199,681,000 after acquiring an additional 454,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP raised its position in Ulta Beauty by 3,246.2% during the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 346,262 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $134,737,000 after purchasing an additional 335,914 shares in the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.