Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Upgraded at The Goldman Sachs Group

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) was upgraded by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $423.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $384.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 15.40% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ULTA. B. Riley dropped their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $467.00 to $404.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on Ulta Beauty from $538.00 to $526.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $510.00 to $415.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $427.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $366.54 on Tuesday. Ulta Beauty has a 52 week low of $309.01 and a 52 week high of $529.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $372.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $386.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $8.08 EPS. Ulta Beauty’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ulta Beauty

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ulta Beauty by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,935 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $520,587,000 after buying an additional 11,205 shares during the period. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter valued at about $430,674,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 655,561 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $285,123,000 after purchasing an additional 9,291 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Ulta Beauty by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 562,155 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $244,498,000 after purchasing an additional 72,004 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $239,432,000. 90.39% of the stock is owned by 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.