Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU – Get Free Report) shares traded down 1.9% on Tuesday after Raymond James lowered their price target on the stock from $350.00 to $325.00. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Lululemon Athletica traded as low as $252.00 and last traded at $254.59. 681,628 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 2,127,189 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.47.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $457.00 to $338.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $470.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $291.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.94.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 19,890.3% in the 2nd quarter. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd now owns 4,653,746 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,390,074,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630,466 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,692,969 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,955,918,000 after acquiring an additional 2,369,119 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica during the 4th quarter worth $236,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 359.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 204,500 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $61,084,000 after buying an additional 283,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,046,011 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $534,815,000 after acquiring an additional 257,944 shares in the last quarter. 85.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance
The firm has a market cap of $32.26 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $269.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $335.41.
Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.69% and a net margin of 16.34%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 13.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Lululemon Athletica announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
About Lululemon Athletica
Lululemon Athletica Inc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, distributes, and retails athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories under the lululemon brand for women and men. It offers pants, shorts, tops, and jackets for healthy lifestyle, such as yoga, running, training, and other activities. It also provides fitness-inspired accessories.