Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Receives Outperform Rating from Oppenheimer

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $445.00 target price on the apparel retailer's stock, down from their previous target price of $540.00. Oppenheimer's target price points to a potential upside of 24.70% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on LULU. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $539.00 to $490.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $531.00 to $509.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered shares of Lululemon Athletica from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $500.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $548.00 to $492.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Lululemon Athletica has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $490.75.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance

Shares of Lululemon Athletica stock traded down $0.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $356.87. 1,804,702 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,726,573. The stock's fifty day moving average is $446.14 and its 200 day moving average is $441.13. The stock has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. Lululemon Athletica has a 12 month low of $326.93 and a 12 month high of $516.39.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The apparel retailer reported $5.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.00 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $3.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.19 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 44.41%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica will post 14.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, December 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the apparel retailer to purchase up to 1.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lululemon Athletica

In other news, Director Martha A. M. Morfitt acquired 700 shares of Lululemon Athletica stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $389.29 per share, with a total value of $272,503.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,645. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lululemon Athletica

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 32.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,692,969 shares of the apparel retailer's stock valued at $4,955,918,000 after purchasing an additional 2,369,119 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 0.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,633,648 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $959,144,000 after buying an additional 18,147 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 29.2% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,934,683 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $746,034,000 after buying an additional 437,069 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 20.0% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,865,091 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $719,198,000 after buying an additional 310,347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 3.2% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,659,260 shares of the apparel retailer's stock worth $603,418,000 after buying an additional 51,572 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.20% of the company's stock.

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 operates in two segments, Company-Operated Stores and Direct to Consumer. The company offers pants, shorts, tops, and jackets for healthy lifestyle, such as yoga, running, training, and other activities.