Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Director Catherine Ann Halligan Sells 100 Shares

Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) Director Catherine Ann Halligan sold 100 shares of Ulta Beauty stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.08, for a total value of $39,008.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,791.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Ulta Beauty Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $389.67 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $18.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $391.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $461.24. Ulta Beauty, Inc. has a 12 month low of $368.02 and a 12 month high of $574.76.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 30th. The specialty retailer reported $6.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.19 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.72 billion. Ulta Beauty had a return on equity of 58.06% and a net margin of 11.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.88 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 25.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ULTA. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the first quarter worth about $30,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ulta Beauty in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 490.0% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 59 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on ULTA shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $565.00 to $475.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $630.00 to $610.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Ulta Beauty from $485.00 to $400.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ulta Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $503.87.

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.