Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup

Citigroup lowered shares of Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $300.00 price objective on the apparel retailer’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $415.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on LULU. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Lululemon Athletica from $505.00 to $470.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $376.00 to $382.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $357.00 price target on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $445.00 price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Lululemon Athletica from $240.00 to $220.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lululemon Athletica currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $416.26.

Lululemon Athletica Stock Performance

LULU opened at $253.50 on Thursday. Lululemon Athletica has a 1 year low of $245.59 and a 1 year high of $516.39. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $377.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.26.

Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 5th. The apparel retailer reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.38 by $0.16. Lululemon Athletica had a return on equity of 42.64% and a net margin of 16.09%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lululemon Athletica will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lululemon Athletica announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 5th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the apparel retailer to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lululemon Athletica

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica during the fourth quarter valued at about $285,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica by 203.9% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 15,233 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock worth $7,788,000 after buying an additional 10,221 shares in the last quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the 4th quarter worth approximately $358,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lululemon Athletica during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Institutional investors own 85.20% of the company’s stock.

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.