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

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,727 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after selling 909 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Lululemon Athletica were worth $12,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LULU. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica during the third quarter worth about $93,476,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 136.3% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 529,295 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $143,624,000 after buying an additional 305,302 shares in the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica during the third quarter worth about $81,405,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 248.5% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 323,031 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $123,530,000 after buying an additional 230,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 151.0% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 367,584 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $99,744,000 after buying an additional 221,112 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on LULU shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $350.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $440.00 to $495.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $265.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $399.14.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

Lululemon Athletica stock opened at $347.94 on Friday. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.01 and a 12-month high of $480.94. The company has a market capitalization of $42.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $383.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.76.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The apparel retailer reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.18. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 42.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.