Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $392.87, but opened at $428.25. Ulta Beauty shares last traded at $441.00, with a volume of 678,679 shares traded.

The specialty retailer reported $5.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.45 by $0.69. The firm had revenue of $2.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 54.02% and a net margin of 10.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.07 earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $525.00 to $485.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $442.00 to $476.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $412.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $520.00 to $450.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $428.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 83.3% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 66 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 695 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 3,495 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Ulta Beauty by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ulta Beauty Trading Up 12.0 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $373.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $376.39. The company has a market cap of $20.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.32.

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.