Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $500.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $430.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on ULTA. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $390.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ulta Beauty from $472.00 to $480.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $459.22.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

Shares of Ulta Beauty stock opened at $418.55 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $406.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $385.23. Ulta Beauty has a fifty-two week low of $318.17 and a fifty-two week high of $574.76. The firm has a market cap of $19.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.28.

Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The specialty retailer reported $5.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.45 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $2.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty will post 23.93 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ulta Beauty

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Ulta Beauty by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 4,654 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC bought a new stake in Ulta Beauty during the 4th quarter valued at $1,074,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd raised its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd now owns 24,006 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,427,000 after buying an additional 2,423 shares during the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 18,061 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,855,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Ulta Beauty by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 2,865 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. 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.