Needham & Company LLC Upgrades Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) to “Buy”

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) was upgraded by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $475.00 target price on the apparel retailer’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 20.11% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on LULU. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $292.00 to $396.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Friday, December 6th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $382.00 to $383.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Lululemon Athletica from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $360.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lululemon Athletica currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.73.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

NASDAQ:LULU opened at $395.47 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $355.92 and a 200 day moving average of $301.81. The company has a market capitalization of $48.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.18. Lululemon Athletica has a 1-year low of $226.01 and a 1-year high of $491.30.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Celeste Burgoyne sold 24,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $405.54, for a total transaction of $10,085,779.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Nicole Neuburger sold 2,022 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.11, for a total value of $782,736.42. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,399,307.78. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,474,828 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $669,036,000 after acquiring an additional 44,294 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 3.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,040,384 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $310,763,000 after buying an additional 37,239 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 74,856.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 895,726 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $243,055,000 after buying an additional 894,531 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 38.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 737,872 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $220,423,000 after buying an additional 203,882 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 702,294 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $190,567,000 after buying an additional 19,808 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

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.