JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Stock Price

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $480.00 to $475.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty retailer’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 35.69% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $480.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $430.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Ulta Beauty from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $475.00 to $400.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $441.61.

Ulta Beauty Stock Up 11.3 %

NASDAQ:ULTA traded up $35.58 on Friday, reaching $350.05. 1,098,461 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,037,909. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $386.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $386.82. Ulta Beauty has a 12 month low of $309.01 and a 12 month high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $16.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The specialty retailer reported $8.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.13 by $1.33. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 51.95% and a net margin of 10.58%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ulta Beauty will post 23.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

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

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.