Morgan Stanley Lowers Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Price Target to $314.00

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) had its price target dropped by Morgan Stanley from $326.00 to $314.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the apparel retailer’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 20.52% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LULU. Citigroup dropped their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $470.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Monday, August 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $354.55.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:LULU opened at $260.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.25. Lululemon Athletica has a twelve month low of $226.01 and a twelve month high of $516.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $256.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.51.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.22. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.59% and a net margin of 16.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica will post 14.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Lululemon Athletica declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 5th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the apparel retailer to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lululemon Athletica

In related news, CEO Calvin Mcdonald purchased 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $260.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,040,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,379,720. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Nicole Neuburger sold 486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.59, for a total transaction of $131,020.74. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,670,918.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Calvin Mcdonald acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $260.00 per share, with a total value of $1,040,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 89,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,379,720. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 281.4% during the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 8,894 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after acquiring an additional 6,562 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Lululemon Athletica by 31.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,425 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $4,607,000 after buying an additional 3,721 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 202.8% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,714 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Lululemon Athletica by 9.7% during the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 34,709 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $10,368,000 after buying an additional 3,077 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Lululemon Athletica by 4.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,261 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $3,250,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. 85.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 offers pants, shorts, tops, and jackets for healthy lifestyle, such as yoga, running, training, and other activities. It also provides fitness-inspired accessories.