Deepwater Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Deepwater Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) by 25.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,673 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,738 shares during the period. Lululemon Athletica makes up about 4.6% of Deepwater Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Deepwater Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Lululemon Athletica were worth $12,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LULU. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica in the 4th quarter worth about $391,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 14,353 shares during the period. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in Lululemon Athletica in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Lululemon Athletica by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 12,520 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $6,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on LULU. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $415.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lululemon Athletica has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Calvin Mcdonald acquired 4,000 shares of Lululemon Athletica stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $260.00 per share, for a total transaction of $1,040,000.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Down 3.0 %

LULU opened at $262.61 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $259.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.42. The company has a market cap of $32.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.25. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 52-week low of $226.01 and a 52-week high of $516.39.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.68 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.