Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Purchases New Position in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 46,299 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $13,830,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LULU. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Lululemon Athletica in the fourth quarter worth $391,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 944 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 113,446 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $58,004,000 after purchasing an additional 14,353 shares during the last quarter. Tidemark LLC purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,520 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $6,401,000 after buying an additional 1,870 shares during the period. 85.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LULU has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $291.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $400.00 to $324.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Lululemon Athletica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $405.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.94.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

NASDAQ LULU opened at $262.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $259.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $318.42. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 1 year low of $226.01 and a 1 year high of $516.39.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 16.34% and a return on equity of 42.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.68 EPS. Research analysts expect that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Lululemon Athletica Company 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.