Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Trading Down 1.3% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) traded down 1.3% during trading on Friday after Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on the stock from $345.00 to $325.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Lululemon Athletica traded as low as $249.10 and last traded at $255.66. 3,535,951 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 67% from the average session volume of 2,112,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.01.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $415.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $420.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $375.00 to $382.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Institutional Trading of Lululemon Athletica

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Choreo LLC grew its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 803 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 731 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 888 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 965.1% in the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 17,905 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $9,155,000 after acquiring an additional 16,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 3,670 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the period. 85.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $32.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $272.61 and its 200 day moving average is $341.27.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.92 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.64% and a net margin of 16.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.22 EPS for the current year.

Lululemon Athletica declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 5th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.