Insider Buying: Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) CEO Acquires 4,000 Shares of Stock

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) CEO Calvin Mcdonald acquired 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were bought 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 $23,379,720. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Lululemon Athletica Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:LULU traded down $1.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $253.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,936,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,141,210. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $268.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $334.85. The stock has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.26. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.01 and a 12-month high of $516.39.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The apparel retailer reported $3.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.69% and a net margin of 16.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.68 EPS. Analysts predict that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 13.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 5th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the apparel retailer to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the fourth quarter worth about $1,114,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 15,425 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $4,607,000 after acquiring an additional 3,721 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 202.8% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Lululemon Athletica by 9.7% in the second quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 34,709 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $10,368,000 after purchasing an additional 3,077 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in Lululemon Athletica by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 5,622 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $2,874,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. 85.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on LULU shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on Lululemon Athletica from $263.00 to $261.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. HSBC raised Lululemon Athletica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $405.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $385.00 to $315.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. TD Securities boosted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $375.00 to $382.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lululemon Athletica presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.94.

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.