Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms “Hold” Rating for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA)

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their hold rating on shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a $438.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $585.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on ULTA. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $580.00 to $520.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ulta Beauty from $480.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an outperform rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $665.00 to $595.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ulta Beauty currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $561.29.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of ULTA opened at $417.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $509.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $468.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.30. Ulta Beauty has a 1 year low of $368.02 and a 1 year high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 61.64% and a net margin of 11.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.68 EPS. Analysts predict that Ulta Beauty will post 26.74 EPS for the current year.

Ulta Beauty declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, March 14th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty retailer to reacquire up to 7.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Kecia Steelman sold 20,950 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $526.39, for a total value of $11,027,870.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 10,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,523,936.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 500 shares of the business’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 directly owns 1,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,222.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,552 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,326. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 347.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 71,491 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,061,000 after buying an additional 55,508 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,810,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 284,442 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $113,620,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 1,188 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asio Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 64.3% in the fourth quarter. Asio Capital LLC now owns 10,171 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $4,984,000 after buying an additional 3,980 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.