Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Trading Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)’s stock price was up 0.2% during trading on Monday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $291.00 to $292.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Lululemon Athletica traded as high as $270.00 and last traded at $259.47. Approximately 7,373,300 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 245% from the average daily volume of 2,135,794 shares. The stock had previously closed at $259.01.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $263.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Lululemon Athletica from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $463.00 to $286.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.94.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lululemon Athletica

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Value Star Asset Management Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in Lululemon Athletica by 19,890.3% during 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 buying an additional 4,630,466 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,692,969 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,955,918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,119 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Lululemon Athletica during the 4th quarter valued at about $236,378,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Lululemon Athletica by 359.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 204,500 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $61,084,000 after purchasing an additional 283,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Lululemon Athletica by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,046,011 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $534,815,000 after purchasing an additional 257,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $32.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $270.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.76.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 16.34% and a return on equity of 42.69%. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 13.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 5th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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.