Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stock Position in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,309 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 302 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Lululemon Athletica were worth $9,949,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 140.7% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 38,723 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $11,567,000 after purchasing an additional 22,637 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,084,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 67.1% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 138,225 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $41,288,000 after buying an additional 55,482 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 78.2% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 98 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,025 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LULU has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $385.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $420.00 to $384.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $375.00 to $382.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $457.00 to $338.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lululemon Athletica news, CEO Calvin Mcdonald bought 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $260.00 per share, with a total value of $1,040,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 89,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,379,720. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance

Shares of LULU stock opened at $253.84 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.25. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a one year low of $226.01 and a one year high of $516.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $266.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $332.15.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.69% and a net margin of 16.34%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. Lululemon Athletica’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 13.9 EPS for the current year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the apparel retailer to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Lululemon Athletica Profile

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.