Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $377.63.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LULU. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $380.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. TD Securities raised their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $382.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

LULU stock opened at $382.41 on Wednesday. Lululemon Athletica has a fifty-two week low of $226.01 and a fifty-two week high of $508.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $342.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.46.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The apparel retailer reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.69 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 42.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Lululemon Athletica will post 14.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Celeste Burgoyne sold 24,870 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.54, for a total value of $10,085,779.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,040,456.66. This represents a 66.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Nicole Neuburger sold 2,022 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.11, for a total transaction of $782,736.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,399,307.78. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lululemon Athletica

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LULU. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the second quarter valued at about $77,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica during the second quarter valued at approximately $293,000. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 4.8% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 2,814 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 1.2% in the second quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 17,243 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $5,150,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Lululemon Athletica during the 2nd quarter valued at $666,000. 85.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.