Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Sets New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $317.70 and last traded at $318.12, with a volume of 542505 shares. The stock had previously closed at $329.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ULTA. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Ulta Beauty from $505.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of Ulta Beauty in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ulta Beauty from $445.00 to $327.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ulta Beauty from $450.00 to $457.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Ulta Beauty from $360.00 to $310.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $431.13.

Ulta Beauty Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.30, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $385.01 and its 200-day moving average is $386.69.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.13 by $1.33. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. Ulta Beauty had a net margin of 10.58% and a return on equity of 51.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $8.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ulta Beauty, Inc. will post 23.96 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ULTA. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ulta Beauty by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,199,935 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $520,587,000 after purchasing an additional 11,205 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 4th quarter worth about $430,674,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in shares of Ulta Beauty in the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,480,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Ulta Beauty by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 655,561 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $285,123,000 after buying an additional 9,291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Ulta Beauty by 5.4% during the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 610,400 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $237,519,000 after acquiring an additional 31,540 shares during the period. 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.