Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 254,217 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock after buying an additional 4,042 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Lululemon Athletica were worth $97,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lululemon Athletica during the third quarter worth about $953,000. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Lululemon Athletica in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $275,000. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 198.8% in the third quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 6,860 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $1,844,000 after purchasing an additional 4,564 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 50.5% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 103,424 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $28,070,000 after purchasing an additional 34,704 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Lululemon Athletica by 876.8% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 2,022 shares of the apparel retailer’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815 shares during the period. 85.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LULU shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $378.00 to $411.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $292.00 to $396.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $315.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Lululemon Athletica in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Lululemon Athletica from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $399.14.

Lululemon Athletica Price Performance

LULU opened at $372.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $390.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $322.16. Lululemon Athletica Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.01 and a 12-month high of $480.94.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.18. Lululemon Athletica had a net margin of 17.05% and a return on equity of 42.16%. The firm had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lululemon Athletica Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lululemon Athletica

In other Lululemon Athletica news, insider Celeste Burgoyne sold 24,870 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.54, for a total transaction of $10,085,779.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,429 shares in the company, valued at $5,040,456.66. The trade was a 66.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Nicole Neuburger sold 2,022 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.11, for a total transaction of $782,736.42. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,399,307.78. The trade was a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.